It was an evening of nostalgic melody and music from a bygone era, still evergreen, on August 22 at Rabindra Bhawan, Guwahati. The Saturday evening was dedicated to the musical genius of Dr Birendranath Dutta with his immortal songs exquisitely presented by veteran and budding singers. A unique feature of the function was the unforgettable experience of hearing the great singer sing some of his classic songs.

The musical evening was organised by the Guwahati-based Nemcare Hospital, in the memory of the famous singer, late Dilip Sarma and the noted ENT specialist late Dr Bhubaneswar Das. The function began with a song Hey silpi pranor silpi, by Dr Hitesh Barua who dedicated the song to artistes and also spoke about the initiatives taken by Nemcare Hospital to honour artistes, thereby uniting the worlds of music and medicine.

The mood of the evening was set by the dignified presence of Dr Birendranath Dutta, seated at a prominent corner of the stage, with his trademark handcrafted cloth bag, smiling, as Aboni Bora, the compere of the show, questioned him on various aspects of his life. His answers revealed facets of his versatile life as an academic-musician. Biren Dutta spoke of his childhood and youth and his musical journey, which began with his college days and Shantineketan and his close association with All India Radio beginning in 1948. The folk arts of Goalpara impacted strongly on his life and music and made a folklorist of him. He spoke of the strong influence of Borgeets on his songs and his learning of these devotional songs from Dayal Sutradhar.

As if on cue, the solomn rendering of a Borgeet by Queen Talukdar – Narayan kaahe bhokoti karu, set the tone of the musical evening. Then the voice of Biren Dutta singing his immortal songs – Palu ne nepalu/Nusudhiba muk, based on a Borgeet tune, left the audience enchanted.

He also fondly recalled his association with Taffazul Ali and Jyotirmoy Kakoti, the three being termed as the Trimurti of Assamese music. The collaboration of late Navakanta Baruah and Birendranath Dutta as composer-singer is regarded as the Monikanchan Yug – the golden age – in Asomiya music. Some of the gems of Assamese music emerged from this combination like O dhun dhunia, Bogoli boga phut di jaa, Tumar karone jao phul tulibole, etc.

Biren Dutta’s popular songs like Bohudin bokulor goondh pua nai, Saatkhon suria noi, Bohagor duporia nimat-nijom, Sau potharot kohua phul, Bogoli boga phut di jaa, O dhun dhunia, etc, were rendered by Kula Barua, Sangeeta Kakoti, Nityananda Medhi, Pranita Baishya Medhi, Jinie Goswami, Lopamudra Neog and Sudiprajan Medhi to take the audience back to the nostalgic romantic days of Assamese music. The songs relived the various facets of Assamese life – the beauty of Nature, the charming simplicity and the rural ambience.

Dr Anjanjyoti Chowdhury, one of the organisers, combined his singing talents with Dutta’s Jhilir maate gobhir kore with humorous anecdotes, striking a rapport with both the audience and Dr Dutta. A dance number based on the sweet song Mur sutalot O ghonsirika by the little dancers of Kalabhumi charmed the audience totally. Dr Biren Dutta then regaled the audience with some of his selected songs like Seujia gose bone and Tomar kaarone jao phul tulibole, with interesting anecdotes from his varied musical life.

The evening ended with Ashim Jyoti Barua rendering Akashe botahe eman surer and Pulak Banerjee singing Meli dilu moi in a sober classical tone. Ramen Choudhury’s music conduction was superb, bringing out the best in each singer.

Nemcare Hospital deserves thanks for providing the audience with this rare opportunity to savour the music of this great singer, taking them on a nostalgic trip down memory lane through ‘Smritir Akhila Paat’.

Abanti Bharali