Thus Sang Bard of Brahmaputra
A brief blog
can hardly do justice to the towering genius of Bhupen Hazarika (1926-2011) who won several
awards and accolades including the Dada Saheb Phalke award, and Bharat Ratna,
awarded posthumously in 2019. The versatile maestro passed away in 2011, but
has left behind a rich legacy that would continue to inspire and motivate
future generations. He is the Bard of Brahmaputra, Sudhakantha, and the beloved
artist and cultural icon of Assam and India.
This blog
presents a translation of one of his most-loved songs Bistirna Parore
(Assamese) along with a brief appreciation.
You may
better appreciate this blog and the translation after listening to your
preferred version of the song – Assamese (Original), or Bengali (O Ganga Tumi
Boyicho Kena) or Hindi (O Ganga Tum Beheti Ho Kyun), all available in You Tube.
Bistirna Parore: Assamese
Song by Bhupen Hazarika
(Translation by Prasanna Dash)
You hear the
heart-rending cries
of the distressed
masses
On the vast
expanse of your banks,
Don’t you,
Old Luit*?
Why, then, do
you flow by in silence,
Are you mute,
O Old Luit?
Why are you
so callous,
Why so indifferent,
Even when
you find
Ethics abandoned,
and
Humanity debased?
Can’t you
see
The
illiterate mired in ignorance, and
Millions
without a morsel?
Why don’t
you lead them out of the mess?
You got much
experience
Of capturing
the fury of a thousand showers,
Mobilising
millions of raindrops;
Why don’t
you inspire
Paralysed
humanity
To rise in
battle and rush to their goals?
Individual
is now self-centred, and
Society
spineless;
Why, then,
don’t you demolish and sweep away
The deadwood?
Were you
truly
Son of
Brahma,
Won’t you be
seeding in them
Dream of a
new society,
A new
future?
The world is
enmeshed
In the frenzy
Of a furious,
fatal Kurukshetra war;
Several
heroes lie immobile
Like Bhishma
In their bed
of arrows;
Why don’t
you revive them
To take up
weapons again?
You hear the
heart-rending cries
of the distressed
masses
On the vast
expanse of your banks,
Don’t you,
Old Luit?
Why, then, do
you flow by in silence,
Are you mute,
O Old Luit?
***
*Brahmaputra
river is also called Luit or Lohit. Lohit (Sanskrit) means red, and the name
derives possibly from the muddy brown colour of the river during the monsoon.
During its course through Tibet, the river is known by its Tibetan and Chinese names, and after crossing the 'Grand Canyon' of Tsango, it enters Arunachal Pradesh where it is named Dihang (or Siang). Near Sadiya, Assam, the river is joined by two mountain streams - Lohit and Dibang. Below the confluence, the river is known as the Brahmaputra.
Bhupen Hazarika was born at Sadiya.
***
The Song
Bhupen
Hazarika wrote and sang the original song in Assamese in 1969. It was translated
into Bengali and Hindi, and both versions were also sung by Bhupen Hazarika. This
is no ordinary song; for it presents the empathetic poet’s worldview and a
slice of its time and milieu.
The Assamese
song is an Ode to Bura Luit (Old Lohit, i.e. Brahmaputra); a song fired with
revolutionary fervour and the vision of a dreamer for a better world for the
suffering masses. In the Bengali and the Hindi translation, the song is
addressed to Ganga, a more venerated river for the people of India.
Ol’ Man River
Bhupen Hazarika
had acknowledged that Bistirna parore was inspired by Ol’ Man River.
However, both songs are unique, and not amenable to comparison.
"Ol'
Man River" is a show tune from the 1927 Broadway musical Show Boat with
music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, who wrote the song in
1925. The song contrasts the struggles and hardships of African Americans with
the endless, uncaring flow of the Mississippi River. It is sung from the point
of view of a black stevedore on a showboat.
Paul Robeson’s
later rendition of “Ol’ Man River”, performing as Joe in Show Boat in
1936, was acclaimed world-wide, and was included in Grammy Hall of Fame in 2006.
Paul’s rendition
is purposely slow, as though sung by a bone-tired wearied worker. Bing Crosby
also sang it, but in a faster pace and tempo.
Paul Robeson
was a leading light of the civil rights movement, and a versatile personality –
actor, singer, musician, activist, football player, lawyer, and more.
In America,
the Civil War had been won, and slavery abolished, but it was too soon for the
racial discrimination to end. In Ol’ man river, the protagonist presents a
harrowing picture of the misery of millions of workers and hopes for freedom
from unbearable shackles, longs to cross the river Jordan to return to homeland.
“Let me go
'way from the Mississippi,
Let me go
'way from de white man boss;
Show me dat
stream called de river Jordan,
Dat's de ol'
stream dat I long to cross.”
The singer
is aghast that Mississippi, that Ol’ man river, flows unconcerned and
indifferent, a mute witness to the inequity and suffering of the people it
passes by.
“Ol' man
river,
Dat ol' man
river
He mus'know
sumpin'
But don't
say nuthin',
He jes'keeps
rollin'
He keeps on
rollin' along.”
The song,
written during the heydays of Harlem Renaissance (1918-37), captures the agony
and anguish of the coloured people with little hope for any radical change in
the foreseeable future.
Hope blossomed
decades later when Martin Luther King Junior (1929-1968), deeply influenced by
Gandhi’s novel method of peaceful civil resistance, led the March on
Washington, and delivered at Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963 his
epoch-making speech ‘I have a dream’. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
India had won
independence in 1947, and hope was in the air for a brighter future; but Gandhi
had been assassinated. The challenges the country faced in the decades after
independence seemed insurmountable, and the dark clouds of distress, despair, and
despondency loomed large. India fed its hungry masses through import of wheat
under US PL-480, and its pathetic situation was ridiculed as ‘ship-to-mouth.’
India had suffered a humiliating defeat in the Indo-China War in 1962.
In Bistirna
parore, the poet captures the anguish of those difficult times, but urges Brahmaputra,
the old river to shed its callousness, reveal its mantra for mobilising
millions of raindrops to make a tumultuous, unstoppable river, and release the brave
warriors from their self-willed bed of arrows (sharasayya) to lead the war to
transform the country and humanity.
This is a song
of hope. That is why Bhupen Da’s baritone voice lifts the lyrics transfused
with revolutionary fervour to impassioned heights. Paul Robeson’s purposely laconic
singing, or Bing Crosby’s racy rendition would not match the theme and the
lyrics of Bistirno parore!
Bhupen Da wrote
the lyrics for many of his songs. His lyrics reverberate with his faith in the
power of poetry, song, and drama to mobilise and motivate humanity to create a
just, equitable world.
He was a
writer with very impressive academic credentials; after his BA and MA in
Political Science from BHU, he got his PH.D. from Columbia University in 1952!
Gajagamini
My Favourite Bhupen Hazarika Songs
Assamese:
Bistirna paroer, Dola re Dola re Dola, Moi Eti Jajabor, Buku Hum Hum kare
Bengali: O
Ganga tumi boyicho kena, Ami Ek Jajabor
Hindi: Dil
Hum Hum Kare
Dedication
My blog and translation
are dedicated to Harish Sonowal, my batchmate and dear friend since I am twice
indebted to him. He was instrumental in my maiden stage-appearance several
decades ago for singing, albeit as part of a chorus. He had led, and we had sung
with much gusto and joy an Assamese folksong Haati Pani Khale e noi ye hea noi ye. Recently, he helped me to translate Bistirno
Parore into English.
Yesterday, I
called around noon to greet him on his birthday. Got message: Phone switched
off. Why would he switch off his phone on his special day, I wondered, and
called on WhatsApp. He picked up after a few rings.
Did I wake
you up, I asked?
Yes, you
did. I’m in South Carolina with my daughter.
My
apologies. Must be night in the US. I’ll call you tomorrow.
It’s alright,
go on.
Happy
Birthday, Harish. I need your help to translate an Assamese song. May I call
you tomorrow for it?
Which song?
Bistirna Parore.
I told him
where I was stuck, and he was most generous to explain.
The time at
South Carolina, US was 1.30 AM.
Thank you,
Dear Harish.
***
References & Resources
1.
Indianculture.gov.in
2.
Encyclopaedia Britannica
3.
Wikipedia
4.
https://lyricstock.in/bistirna-parore-lyrics-dr-bhupen-hazarika/
6.
Bistirno Parore (Assamese): https://youtu.be/0LXdS5cRbt0?si=whURCdGbRzhzRQV4
7. O Ganga Tumi Boicho Keno (Bengali): https://youtu.be/XGeccjWtWnc?si=s6CcD4UhJOcEdJRn
8.
O Ganga Tum Beheti Ho Kyun: Live Performance by
Bhupen Hazarika, 2000: https://youtu.be/SWveuRmXHeQ?si=ECyRj4AfTID4rY1U
9. Ol’ Man River: Paul Robeson: https://youtu.be/eh9WayN7R-s?si=AfcFd86smO86L1aw
***
An insightful article!
ReplyDeleteFantastic presentation on a pioneer.Congrats for the write up and delightful rendering of the maestro's iconic song.
ReplyDelete