To the music lovers of this country Sabina Yasmin needs no introduction. During her illustrious career, spanning almost five decades, she has recorded around 11,000 songs. She is also considered to be the artiste who has done the most number of playbacks for Bangladeshi films.

The diva was diagnosed with cancer last year but her passion for her music, life and the unending love of her fans have helped her pull through.

On the occasion of International Women's Day, this 'woman on top' talked to The Daily Star on the changes in playback and reminisced some memorable experiences.

“My introduction to playback singing happened with the film Natun Sur in 1962. I was a child artiste then. I also performed on the radio show Khelaghar. In 1964 I first performed on TV. My first playback as an adult singer was for the film Agun Niye Khela in 1967. Shaheed Altaf Mahmud was the music director of the film. I recorded two songs for the film -- a duet with the late Mahmudunnabi and a solo, Madhu jochhonar deepali,” says Yasmin.

“When I started my career in playback singing, Ferdausi Rahman and Shahanaz Rahmatullah were all the rage. The process of recording was poles apart. We used to record songs at FDC at night. Sometimes recording one song took almost the whole night. One reason was that the musicians were enlisted radio artistes, so they had to work there till 10pm. Also, back in those days, we didn't have 'multitrack recording'. We had to record a song at one go. You can imagine how difficult it is coordinating all the musicians and the vocalist to produce a song that is up to the director's standards. Sometimes we had to go through 80/90 takes before we got the song right,” recalls the artiste.

“Then things changed. Thanks to 'multitrack recording', now the musicians and singers don't even have to meet. Use of acoustic instruments has been minimised. Synthesisers and the keyboard have taken over. Now the focus is on attaining the 'perfect' sound. In the process however, the spontaneity and the gradual build-up of emotions prevalent in a song recorded on the mono-tape have disappeared,” Yasmin continues.

“The feel and themes of Bangla film songs have gone through some changes as well. Films songs up until the mid-'80s used to have a 'gharowa' feel. Many of them were fine demonstrations of the adhunik genre. Gradually film songs have become faster and racier. I suppose songs reflect the changing times.”

Yasmin's voice has also added a certain touch to the genre of contemporary patriotic songs. Songs rendered by her including Shob k'ota janala khuley dao na, Janmo amar dhanyo holo mago and Ekti Bangladesh tumi jagroto jonotar have become classics.

“Janmo amar dhanyo holo mago -- written by Nayeem Gawhar and composed by Azad Rahman -- was recorded in Karachi in 1970. What many don't know is that the original version was a duet. It featured legendary Nazrul singer Feroza Begum and me. However that version of the song was not aired much on the radio. I re-recorded the song in the '80s and this solo version became hugely popular. Shob k'ota janala -- written by Nazrul Islam Babu and composed by Ahmed Imtiaz Bulbul -- along with some other patriotic songs were recorded for BTV. Much of the popularity these songs enjoy has to do with the exposure on TV,” shares the artiste.

According to Sabina Yasmin, she is set to record a new patriotic song composed by Ahmed Imtiaz Bulbul soon. The audience will eagerly await this new offering from the duo.