DHAKA: Ekushey Padak recipient folk and classical music maestro Pandit Ramkanai Das has died at a hospital in the city Friday night. He was 79.

Ramkanai breathed his last at the intensive care unit of Neuro Surgery Department at Metropolitan Hospital in the city’s Mohakhali area 11:15pm on the day.

He was admitted at the hospital after he had suffered from a brain hemorrhage on August 27and also went under an urgent surgery on August 30 there.

Born to Rashiklal Das and Dibyomoyee Das in Sunamganj in 1935, he was awarded with the Ekushey Padak in 2014 for his outstanding contribution to the folk song collection.

His parents were also folk signer.

Besides singing, he wrote lyrics and composed songs. Since his regular featuring at a radio station in Sylhet on 1967, some of his notable audio albums include Bondher Banshi Baje (2004), Shurodhhonir Kinarai (2005), Raganjali (2006), Oshomoye Dhorlam Pari (2006), and Pagla Majhee (2010).

BDST: 0907 HRS, SEP 06, 2014