BHUBANESWAR: An era in the Odisha music industry has come to an end with the demise of the legendary Prafulla Kar. A household name in Odisha, Kar began singing professionally at the age of 21 for All India Radio in early 60s. In 1962, he got the opportunity to sing his first Odia film song in ‘Shri Shri Patita Pabana’. The song ‘Dharani’ was composed by his friend Harihar Mishra.
In the mid-60s, he was the first Odia musician to compose ‘non-romantic’ Odia gramophone records for HMV label. “When he started singing for HMV, a lot of romantic songs were being made, but he was the first one to introduce non-romantic songs. What made them unique was he used Odia folk music in them,” said film historian Surya Deo.
In the 60s, he also taught Mohd Rafi an Odia song for the film ‘Jharana’ but the film remained in the cans. It was in 1975 that he began his career as a music composer for the film ‘Mamata’. At a time when all the songs were being recorded in Kolkata, he recorded the songs for ‘Mamata’ in Chennai (then Madras).
He infused Odia folk music, Odissi music and Hindustani classical in many of his songs and composed music for popular films like ‘Batighara’, ‘Sindura Bindu’, ‘Shesha Shrabana’, ‘Mukti’, ‘Bandhu Mahanty’, ‘Balidaan’ and ‘Ram Balaram’.
In his career spanning four decades, not only did he render hit songs with his mellifluous voice but also composed music and penned lyrics. He worked for both Odia and Bengali music industries and composed several Hindi bhajans and music for Odissi dance dramas. The Odissi Research Centre had released three albums of Odissi Chanda composed by Kar.
Family members said not only did Kar work with popular singers like Kishore Kumar, Chitra, SP Balasubrahmanyam for Bengali songs but also launched around 18 singers in Odisha. The last film for which he composed music was ‘Gotie Asanta Duiti Mana’ in 2008, but it was not released.
Meanwhile, condolences poured in for the legendary musician from the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Governor Prof Ganeshi Lal, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, political leaders cutting across party lines, and members of the music and film industry. Mortal remains of Kar were consigned to flames with full State honours at Swargadwar in Puri on Monday. Earlier in the day, Governor Prof Ganeshi Lal and Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi paid tributes to Kar at his Satya Nagar residence in the Capital city.