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Bhupen Hazarika a music legend
Bhupen Hazarika ( ভূপেন হাজৰিকা;)
8 September 1926 – 5 November 2011
Bhupen Hazarika, a music legend, ballad singer, composer, lyricist, litterateur, journalist and Dada Saheb Phalke award winning filmmaker,
passed away on November 5, 2011 in Mumbai after battling a long spell of ill-health. He was 85 survived by his wife and son.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi announced that the last rites of Mr.
Hazarika would be performed with full state honours. The government announced a three-day mourning from Monday and a half holiday on Tuesday.
Mr. Gogoi said: “A colourful chapter of Assamese life has come to an end
with the demise of Mr. Hazarika. He became a living legend and introduced the colourful art and culture of various tribes and
communities of Assam and northeast to the global audience. He was a global citizen and used to spread the message of peace, harmony and
progress through his songs across boundaries. His demise is a huge loss in the field of music, literature and art and culture of Assam and
Assam's national life, which will never be filled up again.”
Bhupen Hazarika was a legend in Indian music,
His song reflected his view on the current situations of society, culture, politics, corruption etc. He composed songs in Assamese, Bangla , Hindi
and English.. He received his doctorate (PhD) in Mass Communication from Columbia University. He also received the Lisle
Fellowship from Chicago University, USA to study the use of educational project development through cinema. He played an important role in
visualizing the culture and art of Assam to other parts of India and world. During his active days, He
traveled widely as a Delegate to Conferences on Mass Communication, Poetry, Music, Performing
Arts and Cinema from the Belgium Congo to Samarkand, from the Mississippi
to Danube, to Europe, Canada, South-East Asia, Japan, USA, UK and
Australia. Bhupen
Hazarika in his lifetime spanning over eight decades wrote and sung over 100 songs about
the Brahmaputra some of extreme anger and some of deep reverence to it.
"This Brahmaputra (ब्रम्हपुत्र) River is the main source of inspiration not just for me but for
everyone living by it. Life, culture, economy, and the happiness and
sorrow of the people in Assam are inseparable from the river," he said in his numerous interviews.
Early Life
Hazarika was born in Sadiya a small village in Assam near
Bramhaputra river. He was the eldest child of Nilakanta and Shantipriya Hazarika. He sang his first
song in the second Assamese film Indramalati -"Biswa Bijoy No Jowan" in 1939 when he was
only 10 years old. After completing his Intermediate in Arts from Cotton College, Guwahati in 1942 he went on to Banaras Hindu
University to complete his B.A. in 1944. He passed M.A. in Political Science in 1946. He earned a Ph.D in mass
communication from Columbia University in New York in 1952.
Pioneer
of Assamese cinema
Bhupen Hazarika was
solely responsible for placing the fledging Assamese cinema on the all India and on the world
cinema map. He has been the only person in the past 40 years to propagate the better cinema movement and has integrated all the seven
north-eastern states, including tribal culture, through the medium of
cinema. His remarkable popularity brought him to the legislative Assembly as an Independent member between 1967 to 1972, where he was
solely responsible for installing the first state owned film studio of its kind ever, in India in Guwahati, Assam |
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