HT Correspondent
NAGAON, Sept 18: Noted radio artiste, Silpi pensioner of the state government, music composer, and playback singer Digen Mahanta breathed his last at a flat in Guwahati on Tuesday. He had been undergoing treatment at a Guwahati-based government hospital for several months after being diagnosed with a critical illness. He was 75. He leaves behind his wife, two sons, and a host of relatives.
He was born in 1949 at Tezpur Baroholiya into a musically rich family of the state. His father, Harendra Nath Mahanta, was the satradhikar of Gozola Satra of Jajori in Nagaon district. He was the younger brother of the popular Assamese singer Late Khagen Mahanta. He completed his four-year degree course in commerce in 1974 after passing his class 12 board exam from Dawson HS and Multi-Purpose School in 1969.
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His milestone in his musical career was marked by the recording of three popular songs, including ‘O Sarator Xewali’ and ‘Botah Lagi Isaat Bisaat’, in Kolkata under the production of HMV in 1977. Mahanta became a radio artiste in 1978 by clearing the audition conducted by All India Radio and Doordarshan, Guwahati. Mahanta, along with his wife Pragati Mahanta, became a very popular pair of artistes in the state in the 1980s and 1990s. In addition to his musical albums and cassettes, Digen Mahanta also contributed as a playback singer to several Assamese feature films like ‘Meghamukti’ and ‘Moinajaan’.
Several local socio-cultural organisations and dignitaries, including local MLA Rupak Sarma, former AGP minister Girindra Kr Baruah, and former secretary general of Asom Sahitya Sabha Pradum Rajkhuwa, expressed their grief over his demise and paid tributes to him.
