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TEZPUR/JAMUGURIHAT: The Axam Xahitya Xabha (AXX), in collaboration with its Kolkata branch, marked the birth centenary of the legend, Dr Bhupen Hazarika, through a programme held on August 22 at Asam Bhawan in Kolkata.
Speaking as chief guest at the event, Kolkata-based Sahitya Akademi award-winning writer Syed Hasmat Jalal said the song ‘Manuhe Manuhor Babe’ was not merely a composition but stood as a universal symbol of the responsibility one human being bears towards another. He observed that the humanist values Dr Hazarika expressed through his Assamese songs found renewed resonance in Bengal’s cultural landscape, adding that the singer’s Bengali renditions became, in equal measure, modern and profound expressions of humanism. “The audience of Bengal embraced Bhupenda’s songs as their own,” Jalal said, noting that the artiste’s acceptance in Bengal was so complete that he came to be regarded as Bengal’s own, without the need to identify him separately as an artiste from Assam.
The discussion session, titled ‘Dr Bhupen Hazarika’s Contribution to the Assam-Bengal Cultural Bridge,’ was chaired by AXX President Dr Basanta Kumar Goswami and inaugurated by Ranbir Kumar Dam, Resident Commissioner of Asam Bhawan, Kolkata. Musician Kamal Katakey, researcher Dr Devajit Bhuyan, Ranjan Kumar Dutta, Secretary of the Dr Bhupen Hazarika International Foundation, and playwright Dhrubajyoti Sarma participated as panellists.
In his presidential address, Dr Goswami said it was a matter of pride that the Xabha, along with its Kolkata branch, had been able to commemorate the birth centenary of Bishwaratna and Bharat Ratna Sudhakantha Dr Bhupen Hazarika through such a vibrant programme in the city he loved dearly. He said that the celebration in Kolkata would serve as a message of hope for the nation, and underlined Dr Hazarika’s contribution to strengthening cultural ties between Assam and West Bengal.
On the occasion, the Xabha conferred the Dr Bhupen Hazarika Birth Centenary Memorial Honour on musician Dolly Ghosh, Manipuri dance expert and Sangeet Natak Akademi award winner Meenakshi Saliha Basu, Tridib Chatterjee, patron of Patra Bharati and Sahitya Akademi award-winning editor of Kishore Bharati and educationist Rekha Saliha Basu, Chairperson of the ASL Club.
Two publications were also released at the event — a joint compilation of Bhupendra Sangeet in Assamese, Bengali, and Hindi, edited by Ranjan Kumar Dutta, and ‘Song of Confluence,’ an English translation of Dr Hazarika’s songs, edited by Kamal Kataki and Dr Debojit Nath.
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