GUWAHATI, Nov 5 � Born to Nilakanta Hazarika, a high school teacher, and Shantipriya Hazarika on September 8, 1926 at Sadiya, Bhupen Hazarika, the legendary musician, gave Assamese music a new dimension with his songs, most of which were penned and set to tune by himself. He also provided the sagging Assamese film industry a new momentum.
Besides, Bhupen Hazarika was the pioneer in turning music and cinema making into whole-time occupations in the State. In the process, he emerged as the biggest crowd puller in the public functions of the State.
Also a popular writer, journalist and editor, he was elected president of the Asam Sahitya Sabha, the apex body of the Assamese litterateurs, in 1993. This honour was conferred on him in recognition to his role as a leading author and poet. He has to his credit nearly one thousand lyrics and over 15 major prose titles.
He was the recipient of the 2001 Padma Bhusan honour of the Government of India, the 2008 Asam Ratna Award of the Assam Government. So far, he is the lone winner of the Dada Saheb Phalke Award (1992) � the highest honour in the country�s field of cinema � along with the Sangeet Ratna honour of the Sangeet Natak Akademi (2009) from Assam. These two honours were conferred on him for his lifetime contributions to the Indian cinema and music respectively.
A recipient of the prestigious Srimanta Sankardev Award of the Assam Government in 1988, Dr Hazarika was the architect of the movement that culminated in the establishment of the Jyoti Chitraban Film Studio at Kahilipara in Guwahati. This is the first full-fledged film studio of the State.
Practically, it was also for his single-handed efforts that the national recognition to the Sattriya dance came in 2001. It thus acquired the status of a major Indian dance form of the country. The people of the State had been agitating for that recognition to Sattriya dance for about 50 years. Bhupen Hazarika was then the chairman of the Sangeet Natak Akademi. He served the Akademi in that capacity between 1999 and 2004.
The people of the State have been demanding for quite a long time the Bharat Ratna to Dr Hazarika but to no avail.
Bhupen Hazarika had his schooling in various schools at Dhubri, Guwahati and Tezpur. He did his matriculation from Tezpur High School in 1940, Intermediate in Arts (IA), appearing in the final examination from Cotton College, in 1942 and then joined the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) to do his BA (1944) and MA in political science (1946).
He then left for America to do his Ph D research in Mass Communication in the Columbia University. In New York, he fell in love with Priyambada M Patel, daughter of a Gujarati family settled in Uganda. They got married in 1950 in New York and their son Tez was born in 1952.
But the couple could not stay together for a longer period. Economic hardship caused by the injustice meted out to Dr Hazarika, which forced him to resign from his teacher�s job in Gauhati University was at the root of his �separation� with Priyambada.
He started composing lyrics (Agnijugar Firingoti Moi) and music (Agnijugar� and Moina Ketiya Ahili Toi) for cinema (Indramaloti, 1939), songs when he was only 13- year-old. Prior to that, he composed the lyrics of Kusumbor Putra Srisankar Gurue Dharichil Namare Taan and set it to tune when he was only 11-year-old.
His singing abilities meanwhile started earning accolades for him from the people and it was none other than the doyen of modern Assam literature Sahityarathi Lakshminath Bezbarua, who blessed him with kisses after hearing him singing at a function of the Cotton Collegiate High School. The maestro was only five-year-old then. He sang for the first time for a gramophone record when he was only about 11 year-old. Kalaguru Bishnu Prasad Rava composed the two songs -- Kashate kalashi loi jai oi rachaki bai and Ulahate nachi-bagi holi biyakul -- for which the young Bhupen Hazarika rendered his voice in the gramophone record.
It needs mention here that Bhupen Hazarika was greatly influenced by Rupkonwar Jyotiprasad Agarwalla and Kalaguru Bishnu Prasad Rava, the two towering figures of Assamese music and culture, when he was a young boy.
Besides taking Assamese music to the world arena, Bhupen Hazarika also played a vital role in taking Assamese cinema to the international level.
He made several films that included Era Bator Sur (1956), Mahut Bandhure (1958), Shakuntala (1961), Pratidhvani (1964), Loti Ghoti (1966), Chik Mik Bijuli (1969), Siraj (1988) and a telefilm Miri Jiori (1990), documentaries like For Whom the Sun Shines (1974), Amuthi Chaulor Kahini (1974), Rupkonwar Jyotiprasad aru Joymoti (1976), Through Melody and Rhythm (1977), Along the River Brahmaputra (1981), Satras and Namghars of Assam, Glimpses of the Misty East (1996) and The Brahmaputra: An Endless Journey (2006).
The maestro rendered his services as music director of as many as 36 Assamese films, eight Bengali films and five Hindi films.
Dr Hazarika was awarded with the Swarna Kamal as the best music director of the country for his music in Chameli Memsaab at the 23rd National Film Festival of India in 1976.
He was presented the Gold Disc by the Gramophone Company of India in 1978 and he is the lone musician from this part of India having a long-playing record of the Japanese version of one�s own songs.
On top of his contributions to the field of music with his creations- lyrics and musical compositions, the maestro leaves behind 15 compilations of his prose works. He has also a published work for the children -- Bhupen Mamar Geete-Mate, A, Aa, Ka, Kha and a transcript autobiography -- Moi eti jajabor. The book that derived its title from one of his highly popular songs that starts with the same words dwelling upon his nomadic lifestyle.
This song was perhaps responsible for his being described as �the roving minstrel�. Noted writer, columnist Arup Dutta has a popular book on Bhupen Hazarika with this title.
It needs mention here that Bhupen Hazarika travelled widely as a delegate to conferences on mass communication, music, poetry, performing art and cinema.
He edited the 149th-50th edition of the New India, which is the annual journal of Columbia University. He was also the editor of the four editions of the art journal Gati in 1965, eight editions of the mini magazine Bindu in 1970, monthly Amar Pratinidhi between 1965 and 1980 and quarterly magazine Pratidhvani between 1983 and 90.
The Asam Sahitya Sabha conferred him the Sahityacharyya title on February 8, 2008. The Assam Government also presented him with a lifetime achievement award at a function held at the Ravindra Bhawan in the city in the evening that day.