It was a memorable evening, coupled with nostalgia, that kept the jam-packed Rabindra Bhawan auditorium audience glued to their seats as they relished the songs of varied hues and moods composed by Ramen Barua during his four decades in the pursuit of creating quality music. Music lovers thronged the venue in large numbers and the whole auditorium, including the balcony, got filled up at 6:30 pm and some had to enjoy the evening from the steps and the sides. The programme was a venture of the Guwahati-based socio-cultural group Surjya that has been organising similar programmes this year to commemorate its silver jubilee.

This tribute to the versatile composer was attractive innovative, like a live talk show, interspersed with selected hits of Ramen Barua, whose creativity emanated from a virtual ‘mine of melodies’. The show got off with Ramen Barua taking to the stage and sitting on a ‘heritage’ sofa with a harmonium by his side, and he spoke about the days of yore some 45 years ago, when he composed tunes continuously for 12-14 hours sitting on that very sofa, in partnership with lyricists, especially Keshab Mahanta, who always emphasised on employing the best possible word to carry on the message they wanted to convey as appropriately as possible. And that precisely could be the reason why the songs composed by Ramen Barua touch us so gently but with profound impact in our heart and soul.

The evening started with felicitations to Ramen Barua by Surjya members and others. He was also presented two cheques worth Rs 15,000 and Rs 11,000 besides other gifts, including a huge portrait of the musician that adorned the stage all through the show. The artistes who regaled the audience included veterans Dwipen Barua, Namita Bhattacharjee (Goswami) and Pulak Banerjee.

Ramen Barua’s music is unorthodox, of a different variety altogether, representing no particular genre as such, but embracing the soothing, sublime and hilarious tunes churned out through the Indian classical, western classical, western and continental, including folk. Another aspect of his creations is that everyone can identify themselves with the compositions as most of his numbers are easy to hum, even by a layman. While talking to the evening’s anchor Abani Bora, Ramen Barua recalled composing seven songs at a stretch for a film while sitting at the New Art Players club for the whole day and well into the night.

The evening of melodies started with the early Ramen Barua hit Amar gloroloi jaon akoni senehere, akoni moromere morotat sarag sajau sung by Sangeeta Kakati. Then came Dwipen Barua, a popular singer of Assamese films with hits galore, thanks to his brothers Brojen Barua and Ramen Barua, who recognized their youngest brother’s knack for singing even though he excelled in cricket. He sang two hit numbers – Phul phul phul from the superhit Assamese film Dr Bezbarua, followed by Ekhon nedekha nadir sipare from the film Mukuta.

Pahari Das chipped in with another popular number, originally sung by her – Puhore ki jane ratir ki bedona from the film Jog Biyug after Ramen Barua informed that his stints as judges in the music contests at Cotton College came in handy while picking female singers at short notice. That’s the reason why Pahari Das, Runjun Phukan, who quit singing while at her peak due to a vocal chord ailment, Kokila Goswami, all best singers at Cotton College, were tried out with amazing success.

We also learnt that Jayanta Hazarika sang his first two songs composed by Ramen Barua. Dr Anjanjyoti Choudhury, an avid Ramen Barua fan and a singer himself, rendered the Jayanta Hazarika-sung Mor dogdho hriday, after singing his favourite song Ga ga aji gai ja ga. Dr Anjanjyoti evoked laughter among all as he described how as a young enthusiast he was asked to repeat the same song many times, only to learn later that it was the result of his faulty, not excellent, rendition that he was asked to repeat the song again and again.

Ramen Barua’s daughter Borneeta sang another beauty – Puhonia choraiti oorile – regaling the audience. Four little girls – Leena, Lahi, Kanthika and Chandrima – sang a parents’ day song When the sun plays hide and seek from the film Sonma, instantly penned by Keshab Mahanta, to the amazement of Ramen Barua. Pulak Banerjee regaled the audience with Paar hoi gol dhumuha ejak... signing off the memorable evening after Namita Bhattacharjee (Goswami) and Manojyotshna Mahanta (Morichika eei prem...) sang three numbers between them, displaying the rich variety of Ramen Barua’s creations.

A couple of more songs were sung by upcoming artistes, while the mother-daugher danseuse duo of Moromi Medhi and Meghranjani also performed a Kathak-based item, making the evening lively and worth reminiscing.

Simanta Bhagawati