prelude  Though Satyanath Bora, Bhakatram Dutta Choudhury, Benudhar Rajkhowa composed Assamese songs, they had not yet been able to make any headway. Their contemporary, Late Lakshmiram Barua (1875-1914) was one of the prominent pioneers of Assamese music. He will remain immortal in the musical literature of Assam for enlivening and vitalizing their existence. He felt that for its existence, Assamese songs must be based on the basis of the Raga-Sangeet. But, of course, he had also written songs in the style of folk music and for Brindabadya. His Sangeet Sadhana and Sangeet Kosh introduced a new phase in Assamese music. Lakshmiram Barua gave evidence of his love for and skill in music by organising a theatre party at Shillong and acting as its band master and by establishing the theatre party, ‘Bijni Hall’ and ‘Assam Association’ of Dhubri for cultivation of music. Raja Prabhat Chandra Barua Bahadur, writer of Sangeet-Sopan, was his intimate friend. He was also a mainstay of the ‘Ban Theatre’ of Tezpur, which rose to dizzy heights in its musical experimentation under his guidance as a music teacher. Thus, the songs composed by Lakshmiram Barua and Radhanath Phookan of Jorhat, who composed Kiyonu Pahora Asomiya Hera, Siro Laltumi Asila Swadhin remind us of the past achievements of the Assamese race. Prafulla Barua, son of Lakshmiram Barua recorded this song. The young men of that time found inspiration in music from the songs of the lyrical poet Padmadhar Chaliha. The songs in his Phuloni were very well received in the Assamese society of that time. (To be continued next week) E-mail your questions with answers at: only4_pol@yahoo.co.uk or post at: THE COLOSSEUM, Mosaic, Friday Supplement, The Assam Tribune, Guwahati-781003 or SMS at: 9864102417. Send your name in each SMS.

side screen  1) Picture Clue: What is the name of this hat which originated in Mexico and is now a world phenomenon? (Manjil P. Saikia, Tezpur)

harmonisers  2) Which Victorian architect designed the House of Parliament in London? 3) In Britain’s pre-decimal coinage, which coin had the nickname ‘half a dollar’? 4) In American slang, what is a ‘hoosegow’? 5) On which London road do Madame Tussauds and the planetarium stand?

unities  From Saroj Kr. Deka, Gauhati University – 6) In which film did Amitabh Bachchan hum the theme tune of his first pop single Eir Bir Phatte from the album Aby Baby? 7) Which Hollywood actress was named after a Cleveland store? 8) Amitabh Bachchan started his voice over for Mrinal Sen’s Bhuvan Shome. Later, he went on to act in the Hindi remake of which of Sen’s films?

do-re-me  9) Who drew upon his experience as an obstetrician in his first novel Liza of Lambeth?(Pranjal Kishore  Sharmah, Moscow, Russian  Federation) 10) In the Sanskrit plays written during the Gupta period, women characters and Sudras speak which language? (Alakananda Medhi, Guwahati) 11) The Blue Rihand Prize is traditionally given to the ship with the fastest crossing of which ocean? (Jahnabi Goswami) 12) It started off as two independent mailing lists in 1989. One of the mailing lists started with a post titled “Those Eyes”, on the subject “actress with beautiful eyes”. The other list was started by someone called Chuck Mus Ciano. In 1990, the two mailing lists were combined by Col Needham. What resulted out of this? (Saurav Sarkar, Darrang College, Tezpur) 13) Which character with magical powers did William Shakespeare base on John Dee, a famous Elizabethan mathematician, astrologer, occultist, and navigation instructor? (Kamal Borah, G.U.) 14) ‘Pequod’ is the ship prominently featured in which classic novel? (Maharnav Gogoi, AEC, Guwahati)

crescendo  15) What is the name of the chimpanzee friend of the King of the Pop Michael Jackson, who even used to tour with him? (Basanta Nayak, RFRI, Jorhat)

answers  1) Sombrero hats 2) Charles Barry 3) Half a crown (two shillings and six pence) 4) A prison 5) Marylebone Road 6) Adalat 7) Halle Barry 8) Akash Kusum 9) W.S Maugham 10) Prakit 11) The Atlantic 12) IMDB - Internet Movie Data Base 13) Prospero, in The Tempest 14) Moby Dick 15) Bubbles