Remembering legendary music director late Saroj Nanda
October 1, 2013 at 9:39 am sanjibkarmee 2 comments
Following report is from the Sambad:
Entry filed under: Balangir, Folk music and musical instruments, Kosli Culture, Kosli language and literature, Kosli Song, Region watch, Saroj Nanda, Well known people.
Kosal Discussion and Development Forum 
1.
Raj Kumar Bhoi | October 1, 2013 at 12:39 pm
I used to call him Raju Da.
For the first time I saw Raju Da in UMA (Utkal Music Association) in Tikra Para, Balangir. UMA was one of the early orchestra groups in Orissa which had some GREAT MUSICIANS of that time like ‘Shankar Pradhan’ (Guitarist), Lalit Bhindora (Singing Mukesh songs), Ms. Shivani etc etc.
That time Saroj Nanda (Raju Da) was learning Dholak, then ‘Accordian’. He also used to perform on stage, the popular number of ‘Nikah’ i.e. ‘Dil ke armA Ansu Mein Beh Gaye’ – the audience were spell bound by his mimic singing in female-voiceover (originally sung by ‘Salma Agha’)
One of his stage presentations of self-composed Oriya Bhajan “re nilamani utha utha babu rati pahilani” was WONDERFUL.
In due course, he groomed some good musicians and singers for the Baptist Church, College Chowck, Balangir. The group used to perform religious songs and had recorded some of the beautiful liturgical numbers written by Philimon Bagh, College Chowck, Balangir composed by Raju Da (although those were not recorded in any professional Recording Studio – had GREAT QUALITY).
Later, he went to Cuttack for struggling as a Professional Musician. One of his old friends; Shri Ashok Mahapatra supported him as a financier for various Oriya audio albums, released by JE Company, Cuttack. He also composed many Oriya Bhajan albums for T-Series, dubbed by Anuradha Paudhwal – most of such albums became SUPER HIT. And, people started recognising ‘Saroj Nanda’ across Orissa.
The once forgotten singer ‘Bhikari Bala’ took rebirth with a hit bhajan number – ‘mu ta bada deula ra parare, nila chakra mora asara’ – composed by Saroj Nanda. Akshya Mohanty was also keen to work with Saroj Nanda – ‘mausa mausa tuma dekha bhala nahi ki’ was a hit Puja number dubbed by Akshaya Mohanty, composed by Saroj Nanada.
I must mention one interesting fact that ‘ADIMATA’ (Maa Samleshawari Bhajan in Sambalpuri – sung by Anuradha Paudhwal) was originally composed by Saroj Nanda for Legendary ‘LATA MANGESHKAR’ – but Lata Jee couldn’t devout sufficient time for dubbing. It was a long-cherished dream of Raju Da.
By that time all the music works were done at JE Studio, Cuttack. Lately, he realised that some of his compositions were stolen unauthorizedly from the floor (studio) itself, before the final release of the songs.
Then, he shifted his camp to ‘Voice Master Studio’, Bhubaneswar. He used to call me to sing the cues while music tracks were made for Suresh Wadekar, Sonu Nigam, Udit Narayan and other popular singers. Once the music tracks were mastered, the songs were dubbed by the intended singers at Mumbai. It was a pleasure working with him.
Alcoholism was his darkest side which I have seen too closely. While once camped at Mumbai for some dubbing work, he had a massive cardiac stroke and he passed away. The vacuum created in the Oriya Music World after his demise is yet to be filled.
2.
Dr. Srustidhar Panda | October 1, 2017 at 3:09 am
i have been trying since three years to download the legendary song ” RE NILAMANI UTHA UTHA BABU RAATI PAHILANI” music by late Saroj Nanda. Can anybody help me. Please.