Sikandar Alam

Early life and education

Alam was born on 27 July 1939 at Routrapur in the Baialishi mouza of Cuttack district. His father was an Indian Police Service officer, and the family later settled in Cuttack, where he finished his schooling at Christ Collegiate School and took his intermediate in science at Stewart College.

He studied Hindustani classical vocal music at the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya and learned Odissi music from Balakrushna Das.

Music career

Alam's professional career began at All India Radio in 1957. He entered Odia cinema through the film Laxmi, made under Balakrushna Das. According to film historian Surya Deo, he was first engaged for a single song but went on to record more numbers for the film at Eastern Talkies Studio in Kolkata; his rendering of "Arata Sure Bare" was praised at a press meet and became a hit in Puri, opening further film work for him. Songs such as "Mane Bhari Abhiman" and "Barida Re Tu Jaa Na", which had first been sung by Tarun Banerjee, were re-recorded in his voice during the making of the film.

Over the following decades he sang in more than 50 Odia films and recorded over 2,000 songs, moving easily between film songs, devotional numbers and light classical pieces. He also gave stage performances in India and abroad, and with his wife and daughter he made the album Ala ke Huzur.

Notable songs and films

His entry into Odia films is remembered through the Jagannath song "Jagannath Janana". Other songs credited to him in sources include "Arata Sure Bare", "Barida Re Tu Jaa Na" and "Sapana Ra Pathe Patha" from the film Dharitri. Films in which he sang include Amada Bata, Adina Megha, Manika Jodi, Mamata, Suryamukhi and Puja; Odiapedia's database also lists him in films such as Nua Bou (1962), Paribar (1978), Batasi Jhada (1981), Bilwa Mangala (1981) and Palataka (1985).

Awards and honours

Alam received a long series of honours, among them the Chitrapuri Award (1969), the Soor Sagar title from Sri Khetra Kala Prakashani, Puri (1980), the Dharitri Samman (1981), an Odisha State Film Award (1990), the Cine Critic Award for best playback singer (1991), the Salabega Samman from the Salabega Sanskrutika Parishad, Puri (1995), the Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (2000) and the Sangeet Shree Samman from the West Bengal government's Public Relations Department (2003).

Personal life

He married Naima Alam, a Hindustani classical singer from Kolkata who worked with All India Radio. Their daughters are the television actress Sofia (Sophia) Alam and the Odissi vocalist Nazia Alam.

Death and legacy

Alam died at a nursing home in Bhubaneswar on 8 August 2010, aged 71, after a prolonged illness.

On 19 November 2020 a life-size statue of him, installed at the initiative of the state Culture Department, was unveiled on the premises of the Odisha Legislative Assembly. The Md Sikander Alam Foundation, chaired by his widow, organises an annual birth-anniversary programme with the Culture Department and presents a Sikander Alam Memorial Award; at the 86th anniversary concert at Rabindra Mandap in July 2025 younger singers performed his popular songs.