Anima Choudhury

Anima Choudhury is a famous Indian Assamese singer, musician, and professor from the northeastern state of Assam. On February 28, 1953, she was born in Niz Pakowa, Nalbari district in Assam, India. Her father, Dandiram Choudhury, was a government officer posted at Nagaon and a devotee of Indian classical music. Her mother’s name is Hemalata Choudhury. Her parents loved traditional and folk music and encouraged Anima Choudhury to learn Hindustani classical music. She has six siblings, and she is the fifth child among the seven children. She graduated from Cotton College in Gauhati, Assam, with Honors in History in 1972. She completed her Masters in Arts degree in History at Gauhati University (GU) in 1974. In 1973, she was the best singer at Gauhati University (GU). Later, she took a Doctorate (Ph.D.) degree at the Gauhati University (GU) in 1999. She did a thesis on “Temples and Shrines in and around Guwahati – A Sociological and Folkloristic Exploration.”

Anima Choudhury got training in music (Hindustani) from the music school of Sushil Banerjee. Later, she trained in classical music at Guwahati under Hiren Sarma, Nirod Roy, Damodar Bora, and Nripen Ganguli. She is also trained in Bhajan and Thumri. In 1970, she got an opportunity of playback singing by Barua in the Assamese film “Mukuta,” in which she was offered all the female songs of the movie. Since then, she has been actively following her singing career. Her musical career has spanned over more than four decades of myriad folk and modern Assamese songs.

She also featured as a playback singer for the Bengali film “Tridhara” in 2013 and television serials, including Maa Manasa, Devi Vandanand, and many others. As an ‘A-Grade’ artist, she regularly performs for All India Radio and Doordarshan. She also represented Assam in the National program in Doordarshan in 1989. Anima Choudhury has been honored with several local & state-level musical and cultural recognitions, including titles Luit Kuwari and Jan Dimali. She was also the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019 by Bashantar Edin at Niz Pakowa, Nalbari. Apart from music, Anima Choudhury was a History Associate professor who taught many students. In 2013, she retired as Head of Department of History at Chhaygaon College, Kamrup, Assam. She also presented research papers on music and culture in many national, International, and state-level seminars.