Canadian expatriate Md. Shahnewaz, the composer and music director of numerous popular songs including ‘Two Worlds, Two Residents’, has quietly left this world. (Innalillahi wainna ilaihi raji’un).
Today (February 7) in Canada, Bangladesh time, Md. Shahnewaz breathed his last at around 2:30 pm. Rumon Hayat, composer and music director of Bangladesh Betar, confirmed the news of his death. Rumon Hayat’s son Mohiuddin Newaz Swadhin informed the sad news to the Bangladeshi audience. This news has cast a shadow of grief over the music industry. Md. Shahnewaz’s death
A huge void has been created in the country’s music scene with the loss of such a distinguished music director and composer. Everyone in the music scene is praying for the peace of his soul. Many have posted on Facebook.
Md. Shahnewaz had been suffering from various old-age related ailments for quite some time.
Md. Shahnewaz joined BTV as a staff artist in the early seventies. He started working as a music director on Bangladesh Television in 1977. The number of songs composed by him in various media has reached nearly two thousand. The songs composed by him, ‘Dui Bhubaner Dui Basti Bandhu Chirkal, Rail Line Bahe Samantal’ and ‘Jibanananda Hoye Sansare Aaj Aami Sob Kich Bhule Jaan Kori Lhajjan’, made him immortal among all classes of listeners. He brought him immense recognition as a composer in the music industry.
He has also been awarded many other awards and honors, including the Natya Sabha Award in 1988, the Shaheed Dhirendranath Dutta Award in 2009, and the Shaheed Altaf Mahmud Memorial Medal in 2013.
HMV has released 19 discs and more than 250 cassettes and CDs from various organizations with songs composed by him. He has also directed music for 15 films.