Did you know Hemanta Mukhopadhyay recorded his first disk in 1937?

Nearly two decades after his death the

Gramophone Company of India

still releases at least one album by

Hemanta Mukhopadhyay

every year repackaging his older songs due to the commercial viability of his songs. His legacy still lives on through the songs he recorded, music he composed, and through a number of male singers in

Bengal

and the rest of India who continue to imitate or emulate his singing style.

But how many of you know

Hemanta Babu

recorded his first disk in 1937? The songs were ‘Janite Jadi Go Tumi’ and ‘Balo Go Balo More’. The lyrics to these classic songs were penned by

Naresh Bhattacharya

and the tune and arrangement was done by

Sailesh Dattagupta

recorded under the

Columbia

label. Thereafter he had sung so many non-film songs from the Gramophone Company of India up until 1984.

His career as a film playback singer started with the Bengali film ‘Nemai Sanyas’ released in 1941. And the rest is history!

The Bengali film industry was a good training ground, but for him to attain a wider audience, he had to work in the

Hindi

film industry. His first Hindi playback was in ‘Irada’ which was released in 1944. This was under Pt. Amarnath's music direction.