Mahmudur Rahman Benu lost in his world of music. Photo: Neloy Hossain

Veteran artiste Mahmudur Rahman Benu enthralled the audience with his performance at the Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts on August 7.
A leading figure among his contemporaries, Benu (now settled in the UK ), played an active role during the Liberation War, inspiring many with his voice. The programme featured renditions of Ghazal, Thumri, Khayal, Tagore and Nazrul songs and several songs on the Liberation War.
The programme was jointly organised by Bengal Foundation and the artiste's friends.
The event began with a rendition of a raga 'Gour Sarang.' The piece "Allah terey naam, Ishwar reye naam," is a paean to the Creator and a call to spread universal love.
That was followed by an Atul Prasad Sen number "Shobarey bashrey bhalo," with the underlying message that true enlightenment rests in compassion, regardless of religion and sects.
In the course of his long musical career, Benu has had many mentors. He even had the opportunity to apprentice under the late Waheedul Haque. "Waheed Bhai was more than a teacher to me; from him I have learned music in depth,” said Benu.
As a tribute to late Waheedul Haque, Benu performed a Bengali classic "Eshey darao bodhuhey amar jibon nadir parey."
Recalling his days in 1971, Benu said, "We travelled from camp to camp and sang for the benefit of the Mukti Bahini, thereby boosting their morale."
"On December 1, Jessore fell to the Mukti Bahini. We went to Jessore at the invitation of Syed Nazrul Islam (acting president of the then Mujibnagar Government) on that day and performed the song "Shonen shonen bhai shobey shotyo ejey ghotona, “ he recalled prior to rendering the song at the programme.
Benu also performed two other songs as well as some Nazrul and other songs.