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PROFILE
Musical spell
MONA LISA JENA
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Singer Nazia Sayeed, an exponent of the Gita Govinda, is riding the wave of a resurgence of Oriya music.
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Vast repertoire: Nazia Sayeed
Nazia Sayeed’s honeyed voice has a magical quality that compels listeners to take notice. She holds her audience with her repertoire, be it Hindi film songs, orchestra, or pure classical Oriya music. She has already proven herself as an able ex
ponent of the famous Gita Govinda lyrics.
Through the past two years, she has been travelling extensively. Whether it was the National Dance Festival in Delhi, International Dance Festival in Bhubaneswar, Konark Dance Festival, Srikshetra Mahotsav in Puri, Odissi Sangeet Samaroha, Devdasi dance festival, she has been identified by her rendition of Jaydeva’s lyrics.
Barely 25, she is being hailed as the queen of modern Oriya singing today. Trained as a classical singer, Nazia excels in singing classical Hindustani and Odissi songs with equal aplomb. When Nazia sings, she casts a hypnotic spell over the audience with her faultless tenor.
Having completed her post-graduation from Utkal University, she is now researching Oriya vocal music, especially the Gita Govinda. She has already brought about a change in singing Gita Govinda with her perfect rendering of the Sanskrit lyrics.
She says she is particular about the accent and takes special coaching from Sanskrit scholars. She has obtained Sangeet Visharad in Hindustani classical music (Vocal) and learns from Guru M. A. Khan of ITC Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkata and learns higher Hindustani classical music along with Odissi in Orissa.
Wide variety
Nazia seems to be the first wave of resurgence of Oriya vocal music; her admirers say if Oriya songs are sung the way she sings them, Orissa should claim its place in classical singing too. Her repertoire is wide: Oriya devotional songs, Hindi bhajans, geet, ghazals, modern adhunik songs, Urdu devotionals and film songs for Bengali films. “Allah ke Huzoor Mein”, her first disc, was released in Mumbai in 1998. “Jagannath Janana” in 1997 was followed by “Bada Deula” in 1998 and “Bhakti Nivedan” in 2003.
Where singing is concerned Nazia believes in divine inspiration and forgets that she is a Muslim. Her father too is famous for singing devotional songs for Lord Jagannath, mostly those of the saint-poet Salabega.
Nazia’s parents, Sikandar Alam and Naima Alam, influenced her formative years. Naima remains her inspiration and has trained her in the classical mould. Naima wants her daughter to nurture her gift. She says that though Nazia has an outstanding academic record and can easily look for a comfortable job, she should focus only on her singing.
Her trip to the U.S. in 2002, when she sang in Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, led to an invitation to repeat her tour but but time is a scarce commodity. Next year, she will perform in London. Nazia has sung in Bengali films and has two music discs in Bengali to her credit.
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