20 Listology | Obituaries Firoza Begum
The famous Bangladeshi Nazrulgeeti singer breathed her last on September 9, 2014 at the age of 87. The singer, who had lessons from Kazi Nazrul himself, had been suffering from kidney and heart complications for some time. Her many awards include: Independence Day Award, Shilpakala Academy Award, Best TV Artist Award (Pakistan, Bangladesh), Nasiruddin Gold Medal, Deennath Sen Gold Medal, Sir Salimullah Gold Medal and Satyajit Ray Gold Medal. She was honoured with the Nazrul Shommanona by the West Bengal government in India in 2012. She was a brilliant singer of Urdu, ghazal, thumri and modern Bangla songs and had remained an iconic artist in the music industry for six decades.
Qayyum Chowdhury
The popular artist breathed his last on the stage of Bengal Classical Music Festival on November 30 this year at the age of 82. Qaayum Chowdhury was very well known for his cover designs in contemporary art. In his paintings, one can see the love for rural Bangladesh, its folklore and nature. His paintings on the liberation war was also in rural settings. He embraced the traditional paintings, motifs of Nakshi katha and Pakha in his illustrations. He received the Shilpakala Academy Award in 1977, Ekushey Padak in 1986 and Swadhinota Padak this year. Some of his acclaimed paintings are My Sister (oil painting) and Boat in Moonlight (water colour).
Those we lost this year
Khalil Ullah Khan
The Bangladeshi actor passed away on December 7 this year at the age of 80 in the capital. Born in 1934, he started his career as a theatre actor. Later he started acting in film and television. He has done more than 800 films. He won the Bangladesh National Film Award for best actor for his role in the film “Gunda.” He is still remembered for the role he played as Mia in the 1980’s television drama “Shangshaptak.”
This year, the world lost a number of gifted individuals, all of whom have inspired many with their unique talents Farhana Urmee Robin Williams
The American actor and stand-up comedian Robin Williams committed suicide on August 11, 2014. The 63-year old actor was found dead in his apartment in Paradise Cay, California. He started his career as a stand-up comedian in the 1970s. After gaining a good name and fame in comedy fraternity he started acting in feature films in 1980. His first film was Popeye. As he was a stand-up comedian his skill of improvisation while acting was praiseworthy. His most popular films were Dead Poets Society, 1989, Good will Hunting, 1997, Jumanji, 1995, The Birdcage, 1996, and The Night in the Museum, 2006. He received Academy award for best supporting actor in Good Will Hunting. He also won Golden Globe Aeards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Grammy Awards and two Emmy Awards.
Maksudul Alam
The Bangladeshi scientist who is the genome sequence decoder of jute passed away on December 21 at the age of 60. He was a professor at the University of Hawaii. He breathed his last at Queens Medical Center in Hawaii, USA while suffering from liver cirrhosis.
Maya Angelou
The AfricanAmerican poet, civil rights activist, dancer, film producer, television producer, playwright, film director, author, actress and professor has passed away on May 28 at the age of 86 in North Carolina, US. Her series of autobiographies have always been an inspiration to readers and her book – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, 1969 – is the most widely read one.
Phillip Seymor Hoffman
Actor, director and producer Plillip Hoffman passed away on February 2. He was found dead in his apartment Manhattan’s West Village. The 46-year old actor succumbed to drug overdose. Born in July 3, 1967 Hoffman started his acting career in 1991. Hoffman was a very successful name in theatres too. He gained his recognition as a theatre artist in 1999. In 2005 Hoffman played the role of Truman Capote which is considered to be a turning point in his career. Hoffman was nominated in Primetime Emmy Award for Empire Falls, an HBO miniseries. His first film directed by him was released in 2010. Hoffman started taking smaller roles in the 1990s and continued playing supportive roles. Hoffman was not any typical Hollywood actor. He grew with time and built a strong actor with the twist of humanity, complexity and unorthodox reality.
WEEKEN D TR I BU N E | F R I DAY, DE C E M B E R 26 , 2014
Pete Seeger
The American folk singer passed away at the age of 94 on January 24, 2014 in New York city. Seeger, the songwriter and television host sang for the rights of children and countrymen. For him music was a tool for protesting odds and speaking for the rights to live. He played Banjo, guitar, recorder, tin whistle, mandolin, piano and ukulele. He has been awarded a number of times throughout his career.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Colombian Nobel laureate writer and journalist who is widely praised for his short stories and novels passed away on April 14. His books – Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera and The Autumn of the Patriarch – are widely loved across the globe. Born in 1927 he died at the age of 87 in Mexico, having suffered from Pneumonia. He was the kind of writer who could let the reader become a part of the development of the story. Reality has always been significant component of his writing, further he has experimented with the approaches of reality in his works. He has received Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1972 and later he was awarded Nobel Prize in literature in 1982. n