September 9, 2008 – 5:31 am
Asam Ratna Award for Dr Hazarika
Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, Sept 8 – The first-ever Asam Ratna Award will be bestowed on the State’s cultural icon Dr Bhupen Hazarika in recognition of his seminal contribution to Assamese culture, and music in particular. This was revealed on the celebrated singer’s birthday today by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, while interacting with select mediapersons.
Gogoi, underlining the role of Dr Hazarika in Assam’s cultural sphere, said that the newly instituted award would comprise a citation and Rs 3 lakh. The honour will be bestowed on Dr Hazarika by either the President of India or the Prime Minister at a venue to be finalised later.
The Chief Minister, describing Hazarika as a pride of Assam, hoped that he would continue his artistic journey and enrich Assam with his invaluable work.
Dr Hazarika, born in 1926 at Sadiya in Upper Assam, has been offered numerous national and international honours in ...
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July 29, 2008 – 12:08 pm
Dear Administrator:
Congratulations, and Thank you for your superb job with the BH page.
A few years ago I happened to bump into an old article by Bhupen’da himselfin the library of Sudhakar Bhatt, a retired economist and a neighbor of ours then in Naples. Mr. Bhatt went to school with BH at Columbia Univ, NYC in the early fifties, and reminisces him dearly. The article was in an issue of the Columbia Indian Student journal. My secretary Joyce was moved by the content of new-found piece, and agreed to provide her typing hand. I had it published in one of the issues of ‘Luitor Pora Mississippi’ in the nineties. If you like, you can post it in the ‘articles’ column of your excellent page.
The second article, Melody Man by Abhirook Sen, was sent to me by Amy (our daughter). It has also been collecting dust in my ‘My ...
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July 29, 2008 – 12:01 pm
Melody Man
The Assamese poet's repertoire of songs is firmly anchored in his environment.
By Avirook Sen
The structural engineer in Alaska turned the heat on full blast inside his car and hummed to the strains of Moi eti jajabor (I am a wanderer). The road was endless, he was cold, there was no one at home to talk to. But at least, on the music system, there was Bhupen Hazarika. And listening to him sing wasn't very different from conversation. So the Assamese engineer picked up the phone and called the man in Dibrugarh: "Dada, your music is what keeps me going ..."
Says Hazarika: "I never met the man, but I knew he was warm."
From Alaska to Assam, to those who understand the several languages in which he sings -- the Japanese don't, but have their own version of his humanist ballad Manush manusheri jonyo -- Hazarika's ...
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July 29, 2008 – 11:56 am
MEANINGS FOR MILLIONS
Bhupen Hazarika
The Question Mark
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty" -warned Thomas Jefferson.
Lallu, the laborer in a Bombay wheat mill often wonders at a paradox of his times; why the sweat of his brow is not offering enough bread for his own children. Ramu, the farmer in Bengal examines a handful of soil and wonders how he should fight against erosion in his rice field, which was once so green! Osman, the skilled craftsman of Benares, whose golden sari decorations are bringing showers of admiration to many a sophisticated Indian princess in Paris and New York night clubs, wonders why he is unable to present an ordinary sari to his own daughter. The common man of India wants to know why he should vote this time ...
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June 16, 2008 – 10:20 am
Dr. Hazarika , a living legend with one of the evergreen public call ....
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June 16, 2008 – 10:17 am
Dr. Bhupen Hazarika and Late Pratima Pandey Baruah singing together the famous Paul Robeson song "We are in the same boat brother".
[Dibrugarh Kendriya Rangali Bihu Utsav, 2000]
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June 16, 2008 – 10:13 am
A classic by Dr. Bhupen Hazarika, composed in 1964. Uploaded by Luit Chaliha.Manuhe Manuhar Babe, composed in 1964. It renders thus:If man wouldn't think for manWith a little sympathyTell me who will — comrade?It we try to buyOr sell humanityWon't we be wrong — comrade?If the weakTide across the rapids of lifeWith your helpWhat do you stand to lose?If man does not become manA demon never willIf a demon turns more humanWhom shall it shame more —comrade?
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June 14, 2008 – 10:32 am
Telegraph News
Bhupen Hazarika. A file picture
Guwahati, June 13: One man’s obsession — and 15 years of a global search — has resulted in a magnum opus on none other than Assam’s music legend Bhupen Hazarika.
Padmashree litterateur Surya Hazarika has come out with a three-volume compilation of Bhupen Hazarika’s entire writings that includes the lyrics of his songs, short stories, articles, travelogues and even an editorial the singer had written when he was the editor of a college magazine at Columbia University.
The three-volume compilation will have a grand “international” release at a function in London on July 26. The 82-year-old singer is likely to attend the function.
Surya Hazarika said his search for the balladeer’s write-ups took him to several parts of the world where Assamese people are based. “Many of the lyrics and write-ups are so rare and old that even the singer had forgotten about them. But we had made ...
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April 12, 2008 – 1:10 pm
Shantanu Moitra, Hindustan Times Mumbai, April 12, 2008
I first heard the song O Ganga on Doordarshan. Both, the song and the singer, had me glued to the TV screen. At the end of the song, a name flashed below the name of the song: Bhupen Hazarika. I was about 11 years old and the name stuck. O Ganga.. Jajabor.. Dil hun hun karen.. all these songs were a part of my growing up years. Durga Puja meant Bhupenda would release an album or two and I would buy them.
My friends and I would listen to the songs, writing down the words, line by line. Then, we would sing the songs together the way they were meant to be.
My first music system was inaugurated with Bhupenda's songs. I so badly wanted to hear him at a concert but the opportunity never came up.
Years passed. I started composing jingles and had to ...
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October 25, 2005 – 11:30 am
A few weeks ago, in the northern Assam town of Tezpur, a small group gathered in the elegant drawing room of the Goswamis, a prominent doctor couple, sipping drinks and listening to a long- time politician recount one of his favorite anecdotes in the Assam Assembly.
The politician spoke of how a mischief-making MLA had got another opposition member, who was quite easy to sway, to challenge the then leader of the opposition, Dulal Baruah, in the House on a point of order. An outraged Baruah thundered at his backbencher to shut up, but the instigator was not done yet. “Press on a point of order,” he hissed at his wavering colleague.
“Point of order!” yelled the member, now defiant, but once again stumped when the Speaker asked him, quite legitimately, “On what grounds?”
He fumbled, but then ...
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