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Ramkumar Chattopadhyay (1921 — 18 March 2009) was an eminent Bengali singer, composer and music director. He was well known as a classical singer with a unique repertoire of Puratani (old Bengali) songs, devotional songs and Tappa.
Ramkumar was born in 1921 at Darjipara of North Kolkata in a family with musical background. His grandfather was a classical singer from whom Chattopadhyay learned Tabla. He took lesson on classical music from Jatin Chatterjee, a singer of Bishnupur gharana.[1]
Chattopadhyay first got an opportunity to accompany Kazi Nazrul Islam during a public meeting held by Subhash Chandra Bose in Kolkata. He learned Tappa from Kolobabu alias Jitendranath Bandopadhyay. Sarat Chandra Pandit appointed him as a regular artist of Akashbani Kolkata and after that Chattopadhyay was established as a professional singer. His unparalleled skills lay in giving humorous, quirky twists to traditional forms of music, which were appreciated by classical music lovers.[2] He composed music in two Bengali movies named Strir Patra in 1972 and Parikrama in 1996. He gained much popularity for Shyama Sangeet and Bengali Puratani Song or Baithaki Gaan.[3][4] In his career he worked as a playback singer in number of Bengali films. Chattopadhyay died at 89 due to sepsis and multi organ failure at a private hospital in Kolkata. His son, Srikumar Chattyopadhyay is also a Bengali Classical Singer.[5][6] On 1 June 2017 a statue of Chattopadhyay was inaugurated in Kolkata by Mala Roy, the then Chairperson of Kolkata Municipal Corporation.[7]
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