For poet, singer, composer and filmmaker Bhupen Hazarika, whose centenary celebrations began on Monday (September 8) — exactly a year before he would have turned 100 — the Brahmaputra remained an enduring metaphor. So much so that his voice has often been equated with the river, next to which he grew up, lived and died.
Hazarika carried the sweep and sorrow of the Brahmaputra in the songs he wrote and sang, ones that were informed by the folk music of Assam to become the gentle conscience of a region fraught with insurgency and its attendant pain.
Born in Assam and rooted in the traditions of the Northeast, these songs – about the river, about the boatman, about other lesser-known folk idioms from and about a relatively overlooked and disturbed region, went on to become the links to the rest of the country. The universality of his themes, of solidarity, dignity, humanity, and resistance, has echoed for decades.
Bhupen Hazarika’s early life and musical learning
Born in unified Assam in 1926 in Sadiya, a village next to the Brahmaputra’s deepest point, Hazarika was the eldest of 10 children. His grandfather established a school at Sibasagar. His father, Neelkantha Hazarika, began by teaching at this school before moving to Cotton College in Guwahati.
Hazarika often credited his understanding of music to his mother’s lullabies and the tribal music of Assam that he grew up around. In fact one can spot the touches of the lullabies in his film, the Dimple Kapadia-starrer Rudaali (1993).
Hazarika’s talent was spotted when, as a 10-year-old student of Tezpur Government School, he sang at a public event. In the audience were poet, playwright, and founder of Assamese cinema Jyotiprasad Agarwala, and composer, writer and political activist Bishnu Prasad Rabha.
After this, from 1936 to 1940, he accompanied Agarwala on his trips to Kolkata, where he recorded a couple of songs, one of them being in Agarwala’s film Indramalati (1939). He also learned music from Rabha.
After school, Hazarika studied political science at Banaras Hindu University, where he was fascinated by the shehnai of Ustad Bismillah Khan and would often visit him to understand the nuances of Hindustani classical music. In 1948, after working briefly with All India Radio, he landed a scholarship and went to do a PhD in Mass Communication from Columbia University in New York.
Since he went via a boat to France, he also met Picasso there, catching him at 4 am during a walk and speaking to him about the latter’s works from the ‘Blue Period’ that he admired.
Music as social conscience
Both Agarwala and Rabha were active participants in the Independence struggle against the British. Agarwala also introduced Hazarika to the political writing and satire of Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. While at BHU, Hazarika knew former PM Chandra Shekhar well and attended many political meetings with him. He felt that there was political indifference towards the Northeast and the cultural richness of his region was ignored. He also understood caste better, and wanted to fight against it when he couldn’t marry an upper-class Brahmin woman.
Singer Bhupen Hazarika with Gulzar. (Express archive photo)
While in the US, Hazarika was deeply influenced by American folk music as a tool of protest and resistance. He was also inspired by African-American musician and his new friend Paul Robeson, whose rendition of Ol’ Man River, which highlighted the struggles of African-Americans, was later adapted into Assamese as Bistirno Parore (Of the Wide Shores) and its Bengali version Bistirno Duparey, reimagining the Mississippi’s flow through the cadence of the Brahmaputra and later through the Ganga.
After returning from the US, Hazarika joined the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA).
Hazarika and a conversation with the ULFA chief
In the turbulent early 80s, when there was an uprising against illegal immigration and a fear of cultural erasure in Assam, Hazarika’s songs, originally written against the system, became very popular.
The Assam Accord of 1985 led to some peace. When the ULFA was founded in 1987 with Paresh Barua as its Commander-in-Chief, it had the support of many, but the continued violence led to disillusionment among people.
At an event marking 50 years of AIR Guwahati in 1998, Hazarika as Chief Guest spoke of peace, following which he received a phone call from Barua, who is reported to have told him that he, too, wanted peace. Hazarika even offered to be the mediator between the Union Government and ULFA.
“I used to do many road shows before — one-man shows from village to village. During those shows, I have met many angry young men who have said to me, “Dada gana chod do aur gun le lo,” (Leave your song and pick up the gun). I told them that my gaan (song) is my gun,” he told The Rediff in an interview.
An expansive career
Hazarika began his career in the 60s by composing for and directing many Assamese films, including Shakuntala (1961) and Pratidhwani (1964). He composed extensively for Bengali films from West Bengal as well as Bangladesh. He met filmmaker Kalpana Lajmi in the 70s and composed the score for her first film Ek Pal (1986), followed by Rudaali (1993) and Daman (2001). The two were in a relationship and lived together till Hazarika’s death in 2011.
Hazarika’s baritone voice in Samay dheere chalo and the composition Dil hoom hoom kare still remain popular.
In his long career, Hazarika wrote and composed over 1,500 songs, made 14 films, scored music for about 70, edited magazines (Amar Pratinidhi and Pratidhwani), authored books and won numerous awards, including National Awards — the Dadasaheb Phalke for his lifetime contribution towards Indian cinema and a Padma Bhushan. He also headed several organisations, including the Sangeet Natak Akademi and Assam Sahitya Sabha.
The Bangladesh government, in 2010, announced its highest civilian honour for Hazarika. His song Manush manusher jonnai (Humans are for humans) has been much-loved in the country. He was also awarded the Bharat Ratna (posthumously) in 2019.
Hazarika also had a short political career. He fought independently and won the state elections and was an MLA from 1967-72. He joined the BJP and also contested the Lok Sabha Elections from Guwahati, losing to Congress’s Kirip Chaliha.
Bhupen Hazarika carried the sweep and sorrow of the Brahmaputra in the songs he wrote and sang. (Photo: Express archive) 
Singer Bhupen Hazarika with Gulzar. (Express archive photo)
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