Rezwana Chowdhury Banya received the Padma Shri award

Renowned Rabindra Sangeet artist Rezwana Chowdhury Banya received India’s fourth highest civilian award ‘Padma Shri’. He received the award from President Draupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi on Monday (April 22) evening.

Meanwhile, the Indian High Commission in Dhaka said in a post on their official Facebook page that President Draupadi Murmu awarded the Padma Shri Medal in Arts to Prof. (Dr.) Rezwana Chowdhury Bonya. He is an accomplished professional musician from Bangladesh, a dedicated practitioner of Rabindra Sangeet.

India’s highest civilian award is the Bharat Ratna. Then there are Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. The awards are given for special contribution in various fields.

This year, the country’s government has nominated 132 distinguished people for the Padma award in various fields. Among them, five have received Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 110 Padma Shri.

Earlier, at the end of January this year, the Ministry of Home Affairs of India published the list of nominees for this year’s Padma Award in a notification.

Incidentally, Rezwana Chowdhury Bonya was educated on Dhrupadi, Tappa and Kirtan music apart from Rabindra Sangeet. Initially, Rezwana Chowdhury got admission in Banya ‘Chayanat’ and later in Visva Bharati University in India. He also studied at Bulbul Lalitkala Academy. He started a music education institute named ‘Surer Dhara’.

Rezwana Chowdhury Bonya’s voice has released many albums so far. These include – ‘Swapner Abeshe’, ‘Sakal Sanjhe’, ‘Bhorer Aakashe’, ‘Laguk Hawa’, ‘Apan Pane Chahi’, ‘Pran Khola Song’, ‘Elam New Deshe’, ‘Matir Dak’, ‘Genthechinu Anjali’. ‘, ‘Mor Dardiya’, ‘Shravan Tumi’ and ‘Chinnapatra’ etc.

In 2016, Rezwana Chowdhury Banya received the country’s highest national award, the Independence Medal, for her outstanding contribution to music.

BD Daily/ Wasif