Sri Dharani Basu Thakur of ‘Boro Badi’ was very fond of music. According to the description of his life given by famous Sri Dilip Ray, it was said that he often used to play host to music concerts in his house. Famous people like Sri Dilip Ray, Sri Bhismadeb Chattopadhyay, Sri Sachindeb Burman, Sri Himanshu Dutta, Sri Horen Chattopadhyay, Sri Gyanprakash Ghosh and Sri Kayamatulla khan etc. used to participate or listen to these concerts. Smt Uma Basu was the eldest daughter of Sri Dharani Basu Thakur. Her nickname was ‘Hasi’. Apart from the famous people that were mentioned above there were many other high profile people who used to attend these concerts. Even Subhas Chandra Bose (Netaji) sometimes visited these concerts. We get several accounts of how good Sri Dharani Basu was as a host from Sri Dilip Ray’s description.

Smt Uma Basu was born on 22nd of January, 1921. She took lessons of classical music at a very young age. Later she also learned songs from Sri Dilip Ray, Sri Bhismadeb Chattopadhyay, Sri Sachindeb Burman and Sri Himanshu Dutta etc. Her first solo song what is recorded in 1935 when she was only Thirteen years old. Her songs were loved by all. After that she recorded a lot of songs. Later she recorded duets with Sri Dilip Ray also.

Even Rabindranath Tagore taught a song to Smt Uma Basu. The name of the song was ‘Mone Ki Dwidha Rekhe Chole Gele’. In 1934 she sang a song for Gandhiji In Sarat Bose‘s house. The song was ‘Mere to Giridhar Gopal’. After listening the song in her voice Gandhiji called her Nightingale. Again in 1935 she sang another song for Gandhiji, this time in Peshawar at the house of Abdul Gaffar Khan. The song was ‘Aaj Sakhi Koun Bajat Bansuria’. Even Subhas Chandra Bose (Netaji) used to admire her song. Her voice was very sweet. Along with that she was also very technical which led to a great appeal for her songs. We never came to know how many records she made. We also don’t know whether she recorded with any other companies. However we know that Sri Dinendranath Tagore recorded two songs with her.

‘Sudhakonthi Uma Basu’ was the autobiography of a forgotten singer. She was born in the middle of an ongoing renaissance of Bengali art and culture. This autobiography discussed many such facets of a life. It also discussed a golden Road that was missed; it tells a story of an artist who couldn’t fulfill her wish.

After the death of her father the health of Smt Uma Basu also deteriorated. Because of this deterioration of health she was forced to leave profession and love of life that is singing. At last on 22nd of January, 1940 at the age of only 21 years she left the earth forever.