Arunendu Das, pioneer of alternative Bengali songwriting, passes away

Arunendu Das

, touted to be a pioneer in alternative Bengali songwriting, passed away in London on Saturday at the age of 81. Arunendu’s journey of song writing started while he was in the Bengal Engineering College, Shibpur. He moved to England in the late sixties and had lived there since then.
‘Mohiner Ghoraguli’ cofounder Gautam Chattopadhyay who ushered in an alternative song writing movement met Arunendu in Kolkata in 1987 and collected many of his popular songs that included in the albums ‘Aabaar Bochhor Kuri Pore’, ‘Jhora Samoyer Gaan’, ‘Maya’ and ‘

Khyapar Gaan

’. All these 4 albums were compiled by Mohiner Ghoraguli.
‘

Ghare Ferar Gaan

’, written and composed by Arunendu Das and sung by Chandrani Banerjee, became one of the most popular hits in the late nineties. The iconic song writer had a significant influence on the next generation of songwriters and composers. Interestingly, he appeared in a live performance only once in 2013 in Kolkata.