A function to mark Bhupen Hazarika’s 87th birth anniversary underscored the unifying power of music, says St Mary’s College student Aadrita Chakravorty
IN THE present era where there is conflict among people all over the world on ethnic, linguistic, religious and political grounds, the only thing that can bind people together as one is music. A live example was the 87th birth anniversary celebration of Bhupen Hazarika on September 8.
Amid a volatile situation over inner line permit, the state celebrated the bard’s birthday as a cultural union of different communities. Hazarika’s love for Shillong was quite visible in his creations like ‘Shillongore godhuli’, ‘Shillongore Monalisa Lyngdoh’, ‘Lien Makau’ and many more.
The evening began with the members of the Meghalaya Arts and Culture Department group performing a chorus. They performed three songs; one Khasi, one English and one Assamese. The Assamese song ‘Ei matire moromote’ aroused patriotism among the audience present and their Assamese pronunciation was so crystal clear that one could not make they could not speak Assamese properly. And their Khasi number began with the nostalgic ‘Lien Makau’.
There was one more mesmerizing performance by Na La Rympei, the Khasi fusion band. Their performance seemed like the live portrayal of Hazarika’s very own song ‘He He He Dhule Dogore’ where he had rightly said, ‘Krishna Gorokhiyai Bai Bahi, Khasi Gorokhiyai Bai Sorati…’ (Lord Krishna’s cowboys play the flute and Khasi cowboys play sorati; but the same music flows from both). Hazarika was truly a visionary.
The programme was divided into two parts. One half was for the formal speeches and the other was for the cultural programme. It included the chief guest, Governor KK Paul’s speech along with the speeches of the guest of honour, advocate general KS Kynjing and the president of the Shillong Assamese Ladies Welfare Club (SALWC), Binu Hazarika. Their speeches gave us a glimpse of Hazarika’s life and ideals.
The governor addressed the balladeer as ‘Goddess Saraswati’s eldest son’ and enlightened us with his education life. When the bard was in Colombia University he did his PhD on “Using of Audio Visual Teaching Aids in Education” at a time when the literacy rate in India was very low. This showed his forward looking attitude. The SALWC president called the bard a multi-faceted legend and dwelt upon his achievements in different fields.
The cultural evening included many amazing performances. There were two wonderful chorus performances – one by the ladies of SALWC, who performed a medley on Hazarika’s songs and the other by members of Meghali group. There were local dance performances by the members of the Arts and Culture Department. Nivedita and group performed on the song ‘Naino mein darpan hai’ from the movie ‘Aarop’ that featured Saira Banu and Vinod Khanna.
Local singer Dhrubajyoti Chakravorty began his performance with a devotional song ‘Hei joi roghu nandan’. He was ably supported by Bhola Seel and Ramajit Bhattacharjee on tabla and keyboard respectively. Guest artist included Padmanav Bordoloi, Indian Idol finalist and Deepshikha Bordoloi Das, Assamese actress and radio artist.
Bhupen Hazarika had always dreamt about the unity of Assam and Meghalaya and this evening was truly a tribute to this great legend and his vision. The musical evening of ‘Bhupendar Geetorey Godhuli’ was for this purpose christened as ‘Assam-Meghalaya Cultural Meet’. The programme was organised by SALWC in collaboration with Meghalaya Arts and Cultural Department, ICCR and NEEPCO.