Folk singer Bindhyabasini Devi is dead

New Delhi, Apr 18 (UNI) Bindhyabasini Devi, the renowned folk singer and Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellow who kept alive the genre of traditional music of Bihar for five decades, died in Patna today.

The 86-year-old musician was an accomplished performed in Maithili, Bhojpuri and Magahi with the largest repertoire among her peers.

The Muzzafarpur-born Devi was a recepient of the Padma Shri in 1974 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1991. She had won the Ahilya Bai Award of the Madhya Pradesh government in 1998.

Devi was elected Fellow of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the 'Hall of Fame' of Indian music and dance, in 2004.

Sangeet Natak Akademi condoled the death saying the ''world of music has lost an outstanding artist, whose contribution will be remembered for years to come''.

Devi, who founded the Vindhya Kala Mandir, a centre of excellence in folk music, in Patna had also published several collections of her own songs composed in traditional genres of the region.

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