Born in1941,he was highly inspired towards music from his parents, jadumani jena and hemanta kumari jena
Though he is considered to be a born singer,he received his training in music from guru sri pandit Bhubaneswar mishra
He stepped into oriya music industry as a playbacksinger in 1965 in film" Mana Akasha "{music directed by
upendra kumar}and since 1965 his popular discs are "Najare naja gori bali jatra dekhi"," E parabata kunchi
kunchi ka.".. along with some all time great film hits "Mo priya tharu kie adhika sundara".this is the song,
which brought him him a recognition as a romantic melodious singer
Its said that his GAYAKI is never straight forward, but with full of minor mids "HARKATEIN"
The speciaility in those mids are the style and taste of odishi,which differenitate him from others.
Like every regional song has its own tune which manifests its culture,chitta jenas voice reflects this philosophy about music of orissa..This was rightly understood by the legendary music director Sri Prafulla kar.and in all
his music, he has rightly utilized this voice from the begining, even in oriya qawalis like "Tuma sadhee ra ranga
nakali" {sindoora bindu}
In his career span, he has rendered voice most often under Prafulla kars music.This duo has not only produced melodious songs,but also set up a special category of songs in the music industry.Who can forget songs like "Dekhi se bana mali Radha hele batuli", Manika alo alo manika", Dhali dia sara" and many other.
He also had the opportunity to work under the music direction of Sri upendra kumar, Sri bhubaneswar mishra, Sri sribasta pattnaik, Sri rakhal mohanty, Sri basudev ratha and Sri akhoy mohanty.
Currently he is residing along with his family in cuttack,and spends his time in his own recording studio and performing various programs in and out of orissa. As a person hes generous and very friendly and at the same time very emotional. People have seen tears in his eyes while singing the famous song" Kahin gale shyama ghana" {film Bandhu mohanty}at a cultural program in puri.
Although he is known as an inborn artist and made endless contribution to the oriya music industry, as usual,he is ignored by all the concerned bodies for the kind of recognition he deserves.Oriya society need to identify such artist and dignify them for their dedication, sacrifice and love towards music.
