Manju Gupta

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Manju Gupta (1930 - 1975) was a Bengali singer, specializing in the songs of Atulprasad Sen. She had her training in music from her aunt Sahana Devi and later from Dilipkumar Roy. Atulprasad Sen being her grandfather's cousin, his songs were in her veins and she eventually became one of the best exponents of his songs. She also sang songs of Dwijendralal Roy and Rabindranath Tagore.
In the mid-1940s, after the death of Uma Basu, Dilipkumar Roy diverted his attention to the South. He taught M S Subbulakshmi and Manju Gupta some of his own compositions. His training to Manju Gupta included both Western style of tremolo and the Classical Indian way of singing. Among the first recordings of her was the legendary song, a duet with Dilip Roy, 'Ghum jai ma'. In the early 1950s, Santosh Sengupta approached her to record songs of Atulprasad and thus began a twenty-five year long series of recordings of songs of Atulprasad Sen, Dwijendralal Ray and Rabindranath Tagore. Atulprasad's songs were composed in semi-classical and folkish tunes of Kirtan, Baul, Baul-Kirtan from Bengal as well as Kajri, Chaiti, Lavni, Ghazal and Thumri styles of UP, but each song has a sophistication of its own. Manju Gupta was arguably the best performer of Atulprasad's songs, who modified (modernized) the style of Renuka Dasgupta and Sahana Devi in the post-independence years based on Dilipkumar Roy's training.
 
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