Google doodle celebrates Feroza Begum’s birthday

Search engine giant Google has created a new doodle on its homepage, marking Bangladeshi iconic singer Feroza Begum's 88th birth anniversary.

Feroza's voice and ability to convey deep emotion played an important role in popularising Nazrul Sangeet throughout the country.

Feroza Begum. Photo: Collected

Feroza Begum (28 July 1930 - 9 September 2014) was a Nazrul Sangeet singer. She was honoured with the Independence Day Award in 1979 by the government of Bangladesh.

Feroza Begum was born in Gopalganj district on July 28, 1930 and started her career in the 1940s.

Feroza Begum first sang in All India Radio while studying in the sixth grade. She met National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam at the age of 10 and became his student.

In 1942, she recorded her first Islamic song by gramophone record company HMV in 78 rpm disk format. Since then, 12 LP, 4 EP, 6 CD and more than 20 audio cassette records have been released. She lived in Kolkata from 1954 until she moved to Dhaka in 1967.

In 1956, Feroza Begum married Kamal Dasgupta (who converted to Islam before the marriage and took the name Kamal Uddin Ahmed), a singer, composer, and lyricist.

Two of their three sons, Hamin Ahmed and Shafin Ahmed are musicians.

Feroza Begum died on September 9, 2014 in Apollo Hospital, Dhaka due to heart and kidney problems.

Today's Doodle, painted on watercolor paper with colored inks by Doodler Olivia Huynh, depicts Feroza Begum sharing her voice with her audience, surrounded by gold patterning commonly found on her album covers.