Many unheard compositions of Tagore songs,rendered by the legendary musician Pankaj Kumar Mullick,will be available publicly for the first time later this year. Mullick,a Dadasaheb Phalke award winner,was the only person allowed by Rabindranath Tagore to set tune to his verses. The Pankaj Mullick Music and Art Foundation,run by Mullicks grandchildren,has taken the initiative to release around 3,000 never-heard-before songs from the familys private collection in a series of albums. He gave tunes to a number of songs,including those of Tagore. Besides,he also sang a number of Tagore verses. Thousands of such songs,recorded in private,were never released as albums due to various reasons. But we have already restored 300 songs from our collection, says Jhinuk Gupta,a spokesperson for the foundation. It is said that when Tagore heard Mullick sing one of his verses,Diner Sheshey Ghumer Deshey,the Nobel Laureate hugged him and told him that he was free to set tune to those writings of his which he would not be able to accomplish during his lifetime. Mullick was the first music director who introduced Rabindrasangeet successfully in films like Mukti.
