Bhupen Hazarika, the 'bard of Brahmaputra' whose ability to weave magic out of traditional music died of multiple organ failure at a Mumbai hospital, plunging millions of fans across the country, especially those in eastern India, into gloom.
Hazarika,86, was on the ventilator for four months and had been in and out of hospital, passed away at 4.37 p.m. on Saturday at Kokilaben Hospital in India's entertainment capital. His long time companion, filmmaker Kalpana Lajmi, his nephews and some well wishers from his home state of Assam were at his side when he died.
His body will be flown to Guwahati on Monday and kept at Judges Field for two days for the public to pay homage.
His death cast a pall of gloom on his millions of fans. Many in Assam were grief stricken as news of his death spread. A poet, music composer, singer,actor, journalist, author and filmmaker, the self-proclaimed 'jajabor' (wanderer) took the rich folk heritage of Assam and interpreted it beautifully for the world through his songs.
With his death, the country has lost not only one of its few balladeers but also one of its greatest cultural icons, cherished in Dhaka as much as in Guwahati.
Born in 1926 in Sadiya into a family of teachers, the academically-talented Hazarika completed his basic education from Guwahati in 1942, BA from Banaras Hindu University in 1944 and MA (Pol Sc) in 1946. He did his PhD in Mass Communication from Columbia University. He also received the Lisle Fellowship from Chicago University, US to study the use of educational project development through cinema.
During his stay in the US, he met the legendary black singer Paul Robeson, whose famous number 'Old man river' was successfully transformed to the megahit 'Bistirno parore' ('O Ganga behti ho' in Hindi), a virtual anthem for generations of pro-Left activists.
In an interview to a national daily many years ago, he attributed his singing to tribal music.
"As a child, I grew up listening to tribal music - its rhythm saw me developing an inclination towards singing. Perhaps, I inherited my singing skills from my mother, who sang lullabies to me. In fact, I have used one of my mother's lullabies in 'Rudali'," the Dadasaheb Phalke winner had said.
He sang his first song 'Biswa nijoy nojowan' (in the second Assamese film "Indramalati") in 1939 at the age of 12. (BJ-05/11) |
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