Popular singer of yesteryears Farida Yasmin dies of old age complications

Singer Farida Yasmin, who won the hearts of people with her melodious voice in the 1960s, has died.

The eldest among Bangladesh’s famous ‘Yasmin sisters’ breathed her last at the BIRDEM Hospital in Dhaka on Saturday evening.

Farida was the wife of author Qazi Anwar Husain, who founded and owns leading publishing house Sheba Prokashoni.

The septuagenarian’s eldest son Qazi Shahnoor Husain told bdnews24.com: “My mother was admitted to the hospital for the past 18 days. She passed away at 6pm.”

 

Her four other sisters are also well-known names in Bangladesh’s music industry. Of them, Nilufar Yasmin died in 2003.

The sisters she left behind are Fauzia Yasmin, Nazma Yasmin, and Sabina Yasmin, one of the most noted playback singers in Bangla movies.

Sabina’s daughter Yasmeen Fairooz told bdnews24.com that she was in a comatose state. “Her kidneys had failed long time ago, dialysis was going on. She also had thalassaemia.

“Besides a recent heart attack, she was suffering from several other complications,” Fairooz said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has expressed deep shock at the death of Farida, the daughter-in-law of educationist, statistician, scientist and littérateur Qazi Motahar Husain.

Shahnoor Husain said his mother’s body would be kept at the hospital’s mortuary on Saturday night.

“We’ll bring home the mortal remains on Sunday. She will be buried at Banani Graveyard after funeral prayers.”

Farida Yasmin’s movie playbacks and radio performance mesmerised people of the then East Pakistan from 1958 to 1968. She mostly sang modern Bengali and Urdu songs, and gazals.

Shahnoor Husain said she almost gave up singing in order to give more time to her family.

“She sang only on special occasions. She totally left music by the end of the 1990s,” he said.

Shahnoor Husain and his brother Qazi Maimur Husain are also writers.