Song

Monica Yunus, a Bangladeshi born opera star, right, performs at the German Cultural Center in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Nearly three decades after leaving Bangladesh as a four-month-old, Yunus says she is eager to explore her Asian roots, "to learn about Bangla music and work with Bangladeshi musicians."

Yunus, a soprano with New York's Metropolitan Opera, returned recently to Bangladesh for the first time since her infancy, a trip she calls "life-changing."

She reconnected with her father, Muhammed Yunus, a pioneer in microfinance programs now used in poverty-alleviation programs around the world; she discovered "jatra," a traditional form of Bangladeshi musical theatre that she says is close to classical Western opera; and, of course, she began studying Bangla, the national tongue.

"I don't know any Bangla songs, but I want to learn," she added. "I want to learn about Bangla music and work with Bangladeshi musicians."

Yunus also wants to bring Bangladeshi musicians into her Sing for Hope charity project to raise funds for Bangladeshi girls and women. She plans to dedicate much of the money she raises to educating the country's women, many of whom are unable to complete their schooling.

For now, though, she has no immediate plans to live and work in Bangladesh.

Her father founded Grameen Bank, a microcredit lender that has been instrumental in helping millions of poor Bangladeshis, many of them women, improve their standard of living by letting them borrow small sums to start businesses.

In the past, Grameen loans often went to buy cows to start a diary or chickens for an egg business.

These days, many borrowers are looking to modern technology - Yunus visited one village where women have bought mobile phones and now charge residents, most of whom have no access to phones, a small fee to make calls.

Yunus was born in the southern port city of Chittagong in 1977, but her parents separated soon after and her Russian mother, Vera, took her to the United States.

The family landed in New Jersey, where she learned English and Russian and a love of music from her grandmother, who often sang to the youngster.

"I was exposed (to music) at an early age," Yunus said, adding that she began taking formal singing lessons when she was 11 and went on to graduate in 2002 from the Juilliard School in New York with a Master of Music degree.

Yunus has appeared with various operas in the United States and Europe since making her professional debut with Palm Beach Operas in 1999. She first performed at the Metropolitan Opera in 2003, and has returned there for the 2005-06 season.

"I love opera because of the exchange of energy between a performer and the audience," Yunus said.

In Dhaka, she faced a small audience of family and other notables at the German Cultural Centre, where she performed songs, including arias from popular operas by Mozart and Puccini.

"I am happy that you are here," Yunus told the guests before the performance started, using some of her newly acquired Bangla. "My mother tells me that many of you heard my very first high notes - my screams as a baby."