The Odisha government has renamed the village “Bilung” under Bamra Tahasil of Sambalpur district as “Rangabati Bilung” after the famous folk song “Rangabati”.The government has renamed the village of Mitrabhanu Gountia, lyricist of Odisha’s popular folk song ‘Rangbati’ to ‘Rangbati Bilung’. Respecting the creativity of these great lyricists, the government’s move has made the popularity of the song even more widespread and timeless,” Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said.
Now village has been renamed as ‘Rangabati Bilung’ on the receipt of a “No Objection Certificate” from the Indian government, the Revenue and Disasters Management Department, Odisha government issued a notification in this regard on Wednesday.
The male singer of Rangabati is Jitendra Haripal, he received the Padmashree award in 2017. The song was first recorded in All India Radio (AIR), Sambalpur in 1975-76.
After its wide popularity, the Indian Record Manufacturing Company Limited (INRECO) recorded this song in disc format in 1976, which was finally released in 1978-79.
“This is a rare moment in the history of art of culture of the state,” Revenue and Disaster Management secretary B P Sethi told PTI, adding that the government declared the village after the son (Gauntia) keeping in view its popularity among all sections of people of the state.
“Rangabati is no longer a song. This unique chartbuster which celebrated its silver jubilee in the year 2004 has become a part of our ethos and part of our panoramic culture,” said a senior official in the state Culture department.
Rangabati has the unique distinction of being re- created in many other regional languages of India and the song is very popular in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar as well as Chhattisgarh.