DHAKA -- Britain's ambassador to Dhaka may spend his days practicing the sober art of diplomacy but off duty he loves nothing more than to burst into a song -- and now he has recorded one in a studio.

Bangladesh-born Anwar Choudhury, who returned to the country of his birth four years ago as Britain's High Commissioner, is so keen on singing he even performed for hundreds of guests at an embassy function last year.

Now, his rendition of a Bangladesh love song has been recorded for posterity at a Dhaka studio.

"We were just singing informally and decided to record the song," Choudhury told Agence France-Presse.

The envoy made the recording, which will not be available commercially, earlier this week.

Studio owner Ariful Azam Babu, of the Digitone recording company, said Choudhury was a life-long fan of Bangladesh folk music.

"He is undoubtedly a lover of music and likes to spend his evenings singing. One of his friends brought him to my studio. We sang and mellowed out and decided to record one folk love song," he said.

"It was wonderful. It was as if we were all Bengali singers together, we completely forgot that he was an ambassador," he added.

He was born in the northeastern Sylhet region but emigrated to Britain with his family as a child.

However, Choudhury suffered minor injuries in a bomb attack shortly after taking up his posting in 2004. He is about to return to Britain after four years in Dhaka.