A Treasure-trove Revealed

Good news for Rabindra Sangeet buffs. Several Tagore songs sung in private by legendary composer-singer Pankaj Kumar Mullick, will soon be made public.
The Pankaj Mullick Music and Art Foundation, run by his grandchildren, has taken the initiative to release around 3000 never-heard-before songs from the family's private collection in a series of albums later this year.
"He gave tunes to a number of songs. He also sang a number of Rabindra Sangeet. Thousands of such songs, recorded in private, were never released as albums for various reasons. However, now we have restored 300 of these songs from our collection," according to Jhinuk Gupta, a spokesperson for the Foundation and Mullick's granddaughter-in-law.
It is said that when Tagore heard Mullick sing one of his verses "Diner Sheshey Ghumer Deshey", the poet hugged him and told him that he was free to set tune to those writings of his which he would not be able to accomplish during his lifetime.
Mullick was the first music director who introduced Rabindra Sangeet successfully in films like "Mukti" by unleashing the magic of Tagore's songs.
The first audio CD, to be released soon would be the soundtrack of the dance-drama "Abhishar" which was scripted by the music maestro, based on Tagore's epic poem of the same name.
Besides, some unpublished patriotic songs, to which Mullick had either given his voice or tunes, and his rendition of private recordings for Hindi films and original songs constitute the vast body of his unreleased creations.