Hemango - Bhupen | A song for everyone | Tales of the 1960 Peace Initiative in Assam

In 1960 a major riot broke out in Assam between the Assamese and Bengali communities. The issue centered on the political decision of making Assamese the state language. Hemango Biswas, singer-composer and one of the key activist-organizers of the Indian People's Theatre  Association in Assam, wanted to organize a peace programme against the riots. He asked Bhupen Hazarika, celebrated singer, composer, filmmaker and activist, to join hands. The duo started a peace initiative, journeying across Assam, involving a number of local artistes and performing at several places. This album relates the tale of that unique peace journey, drawing from the songs composed by the duo, memoirs written by Hemango Biswas as well as two rare performances by Moghai Ojha, the magician of Assamese dhol, and Shankha Ghosh, the  revered Bengali poet. This album is part of a project on ‘Hemango Biswas, Bhupen Hazarika and the Assam IPTA in the 1950s and ‘60s’( funded by India Foundation for the Arts and Tata Trusts) Songs : 1) Haradhon-Rongmon katha – composed by Hemango Biswas and Bhupen Hazarika 2) Kauri pore – Lyrics by Keshab Mahanta, tune by Rudra Barua 3) Biswabijoyi nowjoyan – composed by Jyotiprasad Agarwala 4) Pothe namo aloker – composed by Bhupen Hazarika, translated by Hemango Biswas 5) Jhak jhak jhak jhak - composed by Bhupen Hazarika, translated by Hemango Biswas 6) Pratidwani shuni - composed by Bhupen Hazarika, translated by Hemango Biswas Gratitude to Jayanta Madhab Dutta and Manas Pratim Borah for Moghai Ojha’s recording, Bibhuranjan Choudhury for a scratch recording of ‘Haradhon Rongmon katha’, Archana Mahanta for a piece of information on ‘kauri pore’ and Dhritisundar Raychaudhuri for helping out with Shankha Ghosh’s recording. Uma Dutta, a dancer, was part of the peace trip and she is one of the few surviving people from that troupe. Most of the photographs used here are from her personal collection and the rest are from the Hemango Biswas Archive. #1960AssamMovement #HemangoBiswas #BhupenHazarika #Rongili Biswas