Alauddin Ali

Alauddin Ali was born on 24 December 1952 in the Banshbari village of Tongibari Upazila of the Munshiganj District.[4] His father was Ustad Jadab Ali and his mother's name was Johra Khatun.[5]

Ali's father was a staff artiste at the Dhaka radio station. His uncle, Sadek Ali, and cousins Dhir Ali Miah, Mansur Ali, Yunus Ali and Momotaz Uddin, were music directors and composers there during the 1960s.[2] His nephew Ali Akbar Rupu, son of his cousin Mansur Ali, was also a renowned music director of Bangladesh.

At the age of one year and six months, Alauddin Ali moved with his family to AGB Colony, Motijheel, Dhaka. This talented artist grew up in that colony with three brothers and two sisters. His first hand in music was with his younger uncle Sadek Ali. Later in 1986 he entered the film world as a musician. He started as an associate of Shaheed Altaf Mahmud and later worked with renowned composer Anwar Pervez for a long time.[5]

In 1964, Ali won the 'All Pakistan Children's Award' for violin from the then president Ayub Khan as a child musician.[6] By 1967–68, besides practicing violin, he learnt the piano under music director Karim Shahabuddin.[6] He worked under eminent music composers like Khan Ataur Rahman, Altaf Mahmud and Robin Ghosh.[6]

In 1968, Ali joined as a film instrumentalist and assistant to composer Altaf Mahmud.[7] Ali made his debut as a music composer through the country song O Amar Bangla Maa Tor.[8] Ali's first film as a music director was Shondhikkhon (1975).[1] In 1978, Ali made his breakthrough by composing songs for the film Golapi Ekhon Traine. He composed two songs "Achen Amar Moktar" and "Haire Kopal Mondo, Chokh Thakite Ondho" for that film. Another film named Fakir Majnu Shah was released in the same year. The songs Premer Agune, Sobai Bole Boyosh Bare and Chokher Nojor Emni Koira were composed by Ali.[9]

"The audience response after conducting the music for the first film was not very good. The film did not do well commercially. I did not regret it. But through the film Golapi Ekhon Traine, it is as if I am riding on the train of success. Whatever I have done since then, the audience has given me two hands, loved me."

— Alauddin Ali, Prothom Alo

During his career he recorded several songs in Dhaka, Kolkata, Mumbai, Lahore and Karachi. He worked for HMV in India (now Saregama) in the 80's.[6] A reputed French music company has included the background scores for the movie Surja Dighal Bari, composed by Alauddin Ali, in the curriculum of several music schools.[6] He has also directed music for the film Padma Nadir Majhi directed by renowned director Goutam Ghose. He was the music director for the South Asian Games Ceremony in 1993 at Bangabandhu National Stadium, where over 8000 artistes sang to his tune.[6]

He started an organization called 'LCS' on his own initiative, which works to protect artists ’royalties. Moreover, he also founded a production company called 'Ektara Multimedia Production' where various works related to music are done.[10] The name of his music studio was Sruti.[11]

Ali was married three times. With Monowara Begum, he has three children - Afrin Ali, Ajmeri Ali Minu and Showkat Ali Rana. With Nazrul Sangeet singer Salma Sultana (d. 2016), he has a daughter Alif Alauddin, who is also a singer and media personality like her parents.[7][12][13][14][15][16]

Until his death, Ali had lived in Banasree, Dhaka with his wife Farzana Ali Mimi, a singer [17] and youngest daughter, Adrita Alauddin Rajkonna.[18]

• আমার মতো ভাগ্যবান সুরকার কম : আলাউদ্দিন আলী. NTV online (Interview) (in Bengali). Interviewed by Nishith Surjo. 2015-06-08. Archived from the original on 2020-08-10.
• "Newsic - Alauddin Ali (আলাউদ্দিন আলী)". ATN News (Interview) (in Bengali). Interviewed by Nishith Surjo & Akhi Bhadra. 2016-09-18.
• "Igloo Taroka Kathon - Alauddin Ali". Channel i (Interview) (in Bengali). Interviewed by Dilruba Sathi. 2018-12-25.
• "Ganer Utshob - A Tribute to Alauddin Ali". Channel i (Interview) (in Bengali). Interviewed by Moushumi Barua. Retrieved 2020-08-11.

The number of songs composed by him is more than 5 thousand. In his career of more than four decades, he directed for playback songs of an average of 10 films every year. Some of the notable songs of Alauddin Ali are:

Ali had been suffering from pneumonia and blood infection for a long time. Alauddin Ali was first taken to Bangkok on 3 July 2015. After examination there, it was found that he had a tumor in his lung. Then he underwent treatment for cancer along with other physical problems.[18] Earlier, he was admitted to hospital on several occasions. For a long time he was suffering from respiratory problems. He was treated in Bangladesh and Bangkok. He also been received treatment at the Center for Rehabilitation of the Paralyzed in Savar for a long period. When his physical condition deteriorated, he was admitted to Universal Medical College Hospital in Mohakhali. Considering the situation, he was given life support. Ali died at 5:50 pm on 9 August 2020.[5] He was 67. He was buried at Mirpur Martyred Intellectuals Graveyard in Dhaka on 10 August 2020.[25]

• Alauddin Ali at IMDb
• Alauddin Ali on BMDb
• The story of the Melody Emperor (in Bengali) on Bangla Movie Database (BMDb). Archived from the original on 11 August 2020.