Kabir Suman, originally Suman Chattopadhyay, has written songs about Radha, Krishna and Vaishnava culture – the essence of sublime love. He has had to transcend communal barriers to produce timeless songs that celebrate the spirit of human love.
Songs of the former TMC MP, who is a Bengali Brahmin and converted to Islam to become Kabir Suman, resurrected, redefined and revolutionised modern Bengali music in the early 1990’s.
The celebrated poet and author’s numerous solo albums released by HMV have captured the imagination of millions of music lovers. Known as the Bob Dylan of Bengal, Suman has written, composed, arranged and sung around 800 songs. As a one-man band, he has played all the instruments himself in his recordings and live performances.
While the Cuttack-born Bengali singer enjoys a global audience, what comes as good news to his wide fan base in Orissa is his songs can now be heard in Oriya – the language which he spoke first while growing up in Cuttack for six long years, before moving to Kolkata and learning Bengali.
The audio album of 12 most popular songs of Suman translated into Oriya is a musical tribute to mark his deep connection with Orissa, especially his birthplace, Cuttack, and the Kathajodi river which he still loves and reminisces about.
“I never thought it would happen. Never even dreamed of it. I started to speak Oriya before I spoke Bengali. I was born close to the sweet river Kathajodi in Cuttack in 1949. Only a man born on the banks of a river knows what a river is. Today, as I stare before me and think of my departure, my childhood memories come back to me with the sound of my river Kathajodi,” says Suman.
While renowned lyricist Devdas Chhotray, former joint-secretary of the government of India, has done the lyrical adaptations working upon the translations of the songs provided by director of IIMC Dhenkanal Mrinal Chatterjee, Cuttack-based singer Namrata Mohanty who released Nazrul Geeti in Oriya early this year, has lent her voice to the album named ‘Tumaku Chahein’ (I Want You).
“Today, as my life draws towards its end, I think back and revisit in my imagination Cuttack where my senses started to grow, where I gradually became aware of everything. I thank all the good people who are recording my songs in Oriya, especially my new found friend Devdas who has done a great job. My heart goes out to them,” says Suman.
Suman, who worked as a broadcast journalist (senior editor) in the US and Germany for several years and whose songs had been translated into English in 1994, says: “This is the first time my songs are being represented in a regional language. I am very happy that it is Oriya because that was the language that surrounded me when I was born. Though I cannot follow Oriya fully, I can see the close resemblance of the original and the adaptation. I told Devdas he should have no qualms about replacing my Bengali culture specific words with words that the people of Orissa could relate to more easily. I find it sparklingly wonderful that he has alluded to the great Akshaya Mohanty for people who live in Orissa will be able to relate to the context of the song.”
Namrata Mohanty, an AIR artiste with numerous solo and compilation Oriya albums to her credit, besides an album of traditional Hindi bhajans, says: “We had adapted and recorded the most popular song of Suman, ‘Tomake Chai’, with a different musical arrangement on an experimental basis. We uploaded the song on YouTube and it became popular. Encouraged by the overwhelming response from our Oriya listeners, and especially from the diehard fans and followers of Suman across the globe, we decided to go ahead with a complete studio album of 12 such songs but with the same musical arrangement which Suman had himself played. We hope the listeners would like the other songs which are all unique.”
“It was a great challenge for me to record this album as the lyrics and the musical styles are totally different. The words are powerful and thought provoking. It took me more than a year to absorb and recreate the songs. Music arranger and sound engineer Nitya Sriranjan has worked very hard to give the best possible output. The album is a humble tribute to the musical creative genius who was born and brought up in our city,” she says.
The 12 popular songs of Suman that have found a place in the album are ‘Tomake Chai’, ‘Jatishwar’, ‘Protidin Surjyo Othe’, ‘Tomar Tulona’, ‘Sararat Jolechhe’, ‘Tomar Songe Eka’, ‘Nayantara’, ‘Sara Dao’, ‘Bhalobasa’, ‘Kangalpona’, ‘Kakhono Somoy Ase’ and ‘Tumi Dekhbe’.
“While the first 10 are transcendental love songs, the last two are pro-life songs of hope and aspiration. ‘Tomake Chai’ is apparently a love song but more properly it celebrates intrinsic love of a person for his mother tongue,” points out Mrinal Chatterjee who has translated the songs into Oriya.
“Suman’s lyrics are first rate poetry. This is my first attempt at translation of songs, and I must say it was very difficult. Some of his songs like Jatishwar have a particular cultural context and mythological allusions. These should not be tampered with. I have tried my best to keep them intact. Fortunately, Bengal and Orissa share a common culture and mythology,” he adds.
Devdas Chhotray in his prologue voice-over to the album recalls his days in Delhi when he and his mentor, late Akshaya Mohanty used to listen to songs of Suman together with rapt attention till late night.
“I am a follower of Suman. His songs and writings have always inspired me. His words, music and voice leave a lasting cinematic experience as one hears them. I have taken care to see that not only the whole poem, but each line of every poem lends meaning. My involvement in this ambitious project is special to me especially because Suman was born in my own city, Cuttack, and the Kathajodi river is dear to both of us,” he says.
“Suman’s songs deserve a far wider audience than what it has received in West Bengal and Bangladesh. Hope the Oriya versions set a trend that is picked up in other parts of our subcontinent. I believe this is significantly more important than getting the songs translated into European languages. I congratulate the musicians of Orissa,” says Sudipto Chatterjee, professor of Cultural Studies, Centre for Studies in the Social Sciences, Kolkata.
Days ahead of the release of the much-awaited album, the radical vocalist shares his thoughts with Sunday POST in an exclusive interview. Excerpts:
From ‘Tomake Chai’ to ‘Jatishshor’, what were the main stages in the transformation of Suman the composer?
Why from ‘Tomake Chai’ to ‘Jatishshor’? The latter was the song I made in 1996. I have not stopped making songs after that. I made several albums after ‘Jatishshor’. Till now I have made over a thousand songs and am still making and playing new songs. I have touched on so many themes and subjects; I have worked with so many different genres of music in my songs that I can’t really trace the transformation. Suffice it to say, I received formal training in North Indian classical music and different types of Bengali music in my childhood, adolescence and youth. And I was always exposed to a huge variety of music, from different parts of the world. Around 14 years of my life were spent in Europe and America, during which I learnt different types of music. All my life different genres got blended in my music. There were no definite or definable stages. I believe in India we are all folk musicians and our music is in a state of flux all the time.
How radical was the impact of ‘Tomake Chai’ in shaping the modern musical scene in Bengal?
Frankly, I never felt any such influence in the songs that came thereafter. Rather, Anjan Dutta’s influence was much more discernible. The probable reason: You heard my songs and you knew they presuppose their connection with tradition. My songs were the last songs over the last 25 years to have a ‘sanchari’ when needed. I changed the structure of modern Bengali songs and you needed to have a strong sense of music to accept the influence thereof. You needed the past to be influenced by my music whereas the aspiring songwriters who got inspired by the market success of my songs had neither any training in music nor any exposure to the great variety of modern Bengali and/or Indian music. Therefore, they felt baffled by my creation. But in Anjan Dutta’s songs, they found a simple English pop song structure, verse, chorus, and a type that did not presuppose any formal training in music. However, my lyrics tended to captivate young minds. But there too the newcomers failed to a large extent because they had no background in modern lyrics. In Bengal, middle class Bengalis talk of my impact but they don’t know what they are talking of.
The central and critical difference between me and all others, including those whose names are taken in the same breath is: I had had years of training and preparation before I did my first album ‘Tomake Chai’. Those who followed my cue jumped to the occasion. They hardly had any formal training in modern Bengali music, no training or ‘talim’ in classical music. They never trained themselves in the skills of writing new lyrics in Bengali. They felt inspired not by music but by the doors of market success that were thrown open by Suman’s songs.
Critics say you pioneered a new wave of music called ‘Jibonmukhi Gaan’. Is this a separate genre?
I never called my songs ‘Jibonmukhi Gaan’. My songs were always labelled ‘Modern Bengali Songs’. The Gramophone Co of India used the name ‘Jibonmukhi’ for Nachiketa Chakraborty’s first album that came out in 1993, following the great success of ‘Tomake Chai’. I have made, and am still making, modern songs, and I have nothing to do with any ‘Jibonmukhi’ trend, if at all any such thing exists. I find the name ridiculous.
You have championed ultra-radical, anti-establishment values in your compositions. What has been the influence of tradition in shaping your musical preferences? How marked has been the influence of western music?
I have discovered that melodies that come from our folk music lend themselves best to the way I write texts. My lyrics have sometimes been radically different than the bourgeois style of writing lyrics. Indian folk music is remarkably flexible and melodies and idioms and phrases thereof can hold any type of words and textual phrases. Here, the modern idioms as created by, say, Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam and Himangsu Dutta, stand no chance. Those modern idioms and phrases are beautiful but useless when it comes to words and phrases that come from mundane life and experience. Western Music is not alien to us. I have used it automatically. But in radical protest songs and political songs, Indian melodies and rhythm have always stood me in good stead.
Pragatiprava