Bangladeshi bard breathes life into the dying art of Puthi-paath

Once a vital source of entertainment in rural Bengal, now almost obsolete

20211215 Siddique Main

Bangladeshi composer and master of Puthi-paath, Abu Bakar Siddique, in his home studio: "It's hard to understand the magic of Puthi-paath by sitting in a room amid the concrete jungle." (Photo by Faisal Mahmud)

FAISAL MAHMUD, Contributing writer

DHAKA -- By day, Abu Bakar Siddique is a music producer for Bangladesh Betar -- the South Asian nation's state-run radio network -- where a typical workday includes writing music for various program segments and then pulling together all the different parts of the recording process.

"It gets monotonous sometimes. You know, an artist can never get satisfaction if he or she has to create music under a deadline," said Siddique, 59. "But that's a part of my job."

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