Ferdausi, Hadi to get ‘Feroza Begum Memorial Gold Medal’

Ekushey Padak awardee and eminent singer Ferdausi Rahman and National Film Award awardee Syed Abdul Hadi are going to receive the ‘Feroza Begum Memorial Gold Medal’ this year. The award ceremony will be held on July 27.

Son of Feroza Begum and popular musician Shafin Ahmed confirmed the news that two of the country’s most renowned artists Ferdausi Rahman and Syed Abdul Hadi would be receiving the award that bears the name of his mother.

Organised by the Dhaka University Feroza Begum Memorial Gold Medal award-giving ceremony will be held at the university’s Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Building. Vice-chancellor of Dhaka University Md Akhtaruzzaman will hand over the awards to the artists.

Dhaka University introduced the award in memories of Feroza Begum in 2016 under which every year, a well-known singer receives the award.

The award is named after legendary singer Feroza Begum who was born to an aristocratic Muslim family in the Faridpur district. She became the most well-known Nazrul Sangeet singer in the subcontinent thanks to her unique performance style and vocal range, and she remains to be an icon for the many generations of Bangla musicians who came after her. On September 9, 2014, Feroza Begum passed away from complications with her kidneys and heart.

Ferdausi Rahman is the daughter of folk singer Abbas Uddin. She sang some popular film songs for Pakistani films also in the 1960s especially working with the music composer Robin Ghosh in film Chakori released in 1967. She was awarded Ekushey Padak in 1977 and Independence Day Award in 1995 by the Government of Bangladesh. Rahman had two elder brothers, Justice Mustafa Kamal (died 2015) and singer Mustafa Zaman Abbasi. Her niece, Nashid Kamal, is a singer. Her other nieces who are also singers are Samira Abbasi and Sharmini Abbasi. Her children’s programme ‘Esho Gaan Shikhi’ is a programme to teach children about music on Bangladesh Television, and the programme has been running for 44 years. She is known as Gaaner Khalamoni (Aunt of Song) for this programme.

Syed Abdul Hadi is a Bangladeshi singer. He won the Bangladesh National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer five times for his playback performance in the films ‘Golapi Ekhon Traine’ (1979), ‘Sundori’ (1979), ‘Koshai’ (1980), ‘Goriber Bou’ (1990) and ‘Khoma’ (1992). He is the recipient of Ekushey Padak in 2000.