The Melody of Transcendence

Nourishing her talent from a considerably young age, Sadya Afreen Mallick is a name known well in the field of music, especially Nazrul Sangeet.

“After my initial training under Sudhin Das, I joined Chhayanaut at the age of nine where I finished the seven-year course on classical music and Nazrul Sangeet and graduated with a gold medal,” says Sadya. She was the last person, in the last four decades to have been awarded the medal. She was also director of Sadarang Sangeet Samaraha, one of the country's first dedicated classical music training institutions.

Sadya recorded her first label when she was only 12 years old. She was also awarded the President's Award in the then East Pakistan as a child artiste in 1969. In 1974, she performed in Doordarshan and at a solo concert hosted by the legendary Nazrul Sangeet artist Dipali Nag Chowdhury, in Delhi. Since then, she has had the opportunity to perform alongside some of the most renowned artistes in the sub-continent, such as Feroza Begum, Kamal Das Gupta, Dhirendra Chandra Mitra, Sheikh Lutfur Rahman and more.

After numerous television and live performances, she won the President Abu Sayeed Chowdhury Award for her contributions to music. She was also awarded the Anandadhara Gold medal. In the mid-80's she won the Jay Jay Din viewers' award for Nazrul Sangeet.

Over the years, during her career as a singer, she has had a number of records released both nationally and internationally. She was the second Bangladeshi, after Feroza Begum, to have a record released by HMV India in 1992. This was directed and promoted by Feroza Begum.

After making quite a name in the country, Sadya did not stop there. She toured the world-- the US, Europe, Far East and India, either as part of a troupe or for solo concerts. She accompanied Feroza Begum to 12 states in America, including Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and more. She has also appeared in live talk shows on Voice of America and the BBC to promote Nazrul Sangeet and Bangladesh's culture. Along with Manabendra Mukherjee, Sadya performed for a special documentary on Nazrul Islam produced and aired by Britain's Channel 4 in the UK.

During her music career, Sadya was also dedicated to her education. She completed her Bachelor's and Master's in Sociology from Dhaka University, ranking first in the merit list in MSS.

Besides her performing career, she continues to promote the arts. She is Editor, Arts and Entertainment of The Daily Star. Last year, she represented Bangladesh as special guest at the Bangla Gaaner Utshab, a nine-day bilateral music festival organised by Bengal Foundation and held at the Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkata, where she presented the keynote paper on Nazrul songs.