Odisha Govt. Renames Village after Folk Song

The Odisha Government has announced renaming Bilung Village in the Bamra Tehsil of Sambalpur District to ‘Rangabati Bilung’ after the popular folk song ‘Rangabati.’ This is in order to recognize the creativity of the great lyricist of the popular folk song, Mitrabhanu Gountia, who hails from that village.

The move of the government is expected to increase the popularity of the song more and also it will make the song timeless and eternal. The notification was issued on July 22 after receiving the no-objection certificate from the Government of India, the Revenue and Disaster Management Department, Odisha Government.

About the Song

The famous folk song, ‘Rangabati’ has been sung by Jitendra Haripal who has also received the Padmashree Award in 2017. The song was first recorded in All India Radio, Sambalpur in 1975-76. After its huge popularity, the Indian Record Manufacturing Company Limited recorded this song in the disc format in 1976, which was released later in 1978-79.

The music composer for this version was Prabhudatta Pradhan. Krishna Patel sang this along with Haripal. This song was also featured during the Republic Day Parade in New Delhi in 2007.

Due to its huge popularity, the song has been re-created in many other regional languages of the country and the song is very popular in states such as West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

Who is Mitrabhanu Gauntia?

Mitrabhanu Gauntia was born in the Bilung village and has penned down the famous folk song ‘Rangabati’. Apart from that, he has also composed 1000 Sambalpuri songs. He was honoured with the Padmashree Award in 2020 along with the Odisha State Sangeet Natak Academy Award and Akashvani National Award for music.

Month: Current Affairs - July, 2020