Meri Awaaz Hi Pehchan Hai! Remembering Lata Mangeshkar & Her 2 All-Time Odia Classics

Bhubaneswar: Paying tributes to the legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar, on her first death anniversary, artist Sudarsan Pattnaik created a 6ft high sand sculpture with the message ‘Tribute to Bharat Ratna Lata Ji, Meri Awaaaz Hi Pehchan Hai’, on Puri beach in Odisha on Monday

Lata sang over 30,000 songs in at least 36 different languages. Among them are the all-time classics of Odia cinema – ‘Sei Chuna Chuna Tara Phula Aaji’ from Suryamukhi (1963) and ‘Aaji Mun Shrabani Luhara Harini Jeun Rajani’ for Arundhati (1967).

Both movies won the National award for best Odia feature film in 1963 and 1967, respectively.

Legendary Odia music director Shantanu Mohapatra composed both songs.

A Twitter user shared the picture of Lata Mangeshkar during the recording of the song, ‘Sei Chuna Chuna Tara Phula Aaji’, at her residence in Mumbai. Lyricist Gurukrushna Goswami, Lata Mangeshkar, her brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar, music director Shantanu Mohapatra and Jatin Das can also be seen in the picture.

Another Twitter user shared the video of the song Aaji Mun Shrabani Luhara Harini Jeun Rajani’, Check here:

Speaking to Odisha Bytes, film critic Surya Deo said that both the songs were recorded in Mumbai. “Lata Mangeshkar took a day to understand the emotion behind the song, ‘Sei Chuna Chuna Tara Phula Aaji’ before agreeing to record it,” he said.

He further said that the legendary singer had some problems with the pronunciation of a few Odia words in the song, ‘Aaji Mun Shrabani Luhara Harini Jeun Rajani’, but soon mastered it. “Her Odia accent was so correct and perfect that many thought it was sung by an Odia singer,” he added.

Odisha will always remember the legend and her enchanting voice will forever remain with us and generations to come!