Kolkata: Legendary Rabindra Sangeet (Tagore song) exponent Suchitra Mitra died at her residence here yesterday following a cardiac arrest, family sources said. She was 86. Mitra died around 1.30pm, local time, yesterday while she was having lunch.
Born in 1924, Suchitra Mitra had for six decades kept music lovers enthralled with her mellifluous rendition of Tagore songs, and her records and CDs top the popularity ratings even today.
Daughter of litterateur Saurindra Mohan Mukherjee, she received her first lessons from eminent singer-composer Pankaj Mullick and then went to Santiniketan with a scholarship.
Her singing skills were sharpened under the guidance of experts like Shantidev Ghosh and Shailajaranjan Mazumdar. She made her first recording in 1945. Her rendition of Tagore songs like gramchara oi ranga matir path, krishnakali, hridayer ekul okul du kul bheshe jai have capitavated music lovers for decades.
She was a former sheriff of Kolkata (2001) and a long-time professor and head of the Rabindra Sangeet department at the Rabindra Bharati University.
Mitra received the Padma Shri award in 1973.
