BANGLADESH AND MUSIC HERITAGE

A famous Pakistani pop singer sang a bhatiali song "Amay vasai li re, amay dubai li re" and made it famous in Pakistan. These songs depict the will and woe of the common people. A long time ago, when man did not obstruct rivers to suit his petty needs, the river channels served as goodwill ambassadors to extensive geographical areas - a river originating in one country flowing through another, joining another river, forming a filigree of merging and diverging rivers - with the social and cultural heritage of one region blending into another, each drawing on the rich yet varied perspectives in the whole process of cultural evolution. This is perhaps most apparent in Bengal's rich and enviable variety of folksongs. Rivers form an integral part of the topography of Bengal: "Bangladesh is the land of rivers. Ganga, Meghna, Dhaleshwari, Shitalakshya, Gadai - in so many names and in such myriad forms these rivers encircle Bangladesh. Few Bengali poets have loved the villages of Bengal more and few have expressed in poems and songs the simple joys and sorrows of the villagers more poignantly and feelingly amay bhasaili rey amay dubaili rey akul dariyar bujhi kul nairey kul nai kinar nai naiko nadir padi tumi sabdhanetey chalaiyo majhi amar bhang tari rey (You've set me adrift You've sunk me The endless waters have no shore Limitless, with no shores, the waters have no banks O row with care boatman, my riven boat.

Amay Vhasaili Re _ Bhatiali song Lyrics and music by Jasim Uddin Singer Runa Laila You've set me adrift You've sunk me The endless waters have no shore Limitless, with no shores, the waters have no banks O row with care boatman, my riven boat One of the most famous and extremely popular bhatiyali songs is from the collection of the renowned poet and the folk music exponent Jasim Uddin (1904-76). Few Bengali poets have loved the villages of Bengal more and few have expressed in poems and songs the simple joys and sorrows of the villagers more poignantly and feelingly

Lyrics and Music by Poet Jasim uddin Behind ever art is a man, behind the man is the race and behind the race is the social and natural environment and these influences are sure to be reflected on folklore. Bengali ballads give us an idea of the Bengali society in the Middle Ages, its joy and sorrows, laughter and tears. Bangladesh is the land of rivers -- almost all villages are linked with rivers. There is a proverb which says, "There is not a single village without a river or a rivulet and a folk poet or a minstrel". In 1964 in Calcutta, a group of committed scholars and folklorists had gathered together to form the Folk music and Folklore Research Institute at Khaled Choudhury's house, out of a growing "awareness of an impending crisis in folk music" compounded by "commercial distortion" and the consequential falsification of the folk genres. The commercial distortion has grown more and more macabre over the years, and one is pained to hear cosmetic bauls who sing pseudo melodies in a "heritage park" in Calcutta, forming just one of the trappings that make up India; or the lofty notes of a bhatiyali melody just serving a background score in a film - the rich earthy song of the soil decontextualised and deconstructed to serve the selfish ends of modern urban civilisation. The neglect that has ravaged folk music has been most evident in the glitzy packaging of the folk to sell as exotica abroad. The folk traditions of Bengal have died a slow death, despite the laudable efforts of Gurusaday Dutt, Dinesh Chandra Sen and other scholars and revivalists. What we require today is a serious and committed research which can save whatever is left of the fast depleting forms of folk music in Bengal.

Folk Song by Poet Jasim Uddin Lyrics and Music by Jasim Uddin Jasim Uddin poet and litterateur, poet of the people of Bengal ("Pallikabi") Jasimuddin's deep involvement in non-communal socio-political movements championing the cause of Bengali language and literature gives his lyric and folksy poetry a keen edge of commitment and protest. His poems are popular as part of school curricula in West Bengal, India as much as in Bangladesh. Bangla musical genres like Aul, Baul, Marfati and Murshidi are heavily influenced by the mystic philosophy found in the Charyapadas. Besides, Vaishnava Padabalis--songs and verses praising Lord Vishnu--have also influenced Bangla music. Michael Madhusudan Dutta, Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam and Jasimuddin were immensely influenced by mysticism, Sufism and Baul doctrines (A touch of the mystic , 2004).

Har Kala - Most Famous Bengali Folk Song Lyric and Music by Jasim Uddin His poetry appears like the breeze from the countryside that cools the sighs and sweats of urban living. He is congratulated for creating a new school of poetry ; Dr. Dinesh chandra Sen Jasim Uddin's poetry has a new trend, a new taste and a new language. - Rabinranath Tagore Verrier Elwin Jasim Uddin knows every fact of village life in Bengal and is partial to rural people. The heroes of his poems and stories are farmers, fishermen, boatmen, weavers, cowherds, even roadside barbers, wandering gypsies, palmists and astrologers.

Amar Har Kala Music and Lyrics by Poet Jasim Uddin Singer: Abdul Alim Jasim Uddin writes: The songs were the expression of the spirit to fight for freedom Another man who loved and understood them was Chittaranjan Das of Bengal the leader most beloved Bengal who was himself the very incarnation of Bengal. To him the songs were the expression of the spirit of the national in a sense they were the justification of the fight for freedom. He paid glowing tributes to their greatness in many of his addresses to the people. "How can a nation which sings like that remain subject to foreign-overlords?", he would exclaim. In 1922, Dr. Dinesh Chandra Sen of Dacca collected a small group of collaborators, and began gathering the ballads and folklore of East bengal. I was one of those who worked with him, helping to collect several volumes. Some of them were published with the english translations by the University of Calcutta; one volume was translated into French. Dr. Sen was a true scholar with a genuine love for folk tradition, and he did more than any man before him to awaken in the educated public a sense of its beauty and value..... I had been born and brought up in a village and brought up entirely by cultivators, and the folk-songs were in my very blood. To me, unlike Dr. Sen, the tunes meant even more than the words : they embodied the meaning of the traditional life I loved.

A famous song of Hason Raja.

A great song of abdul alim.

Bangla Bhawaiya song originated in North bengal.

Peter Jalay Jaila Moilam I am hungry dyeing... Bengali Folk Song Lyrics and Music by Poet Jasim Uddin What may we know of the secret sorrow In vain we search our joy and our pain Yet I may try to fathom this pain To the earth if I press my ear The voice of the soil speaks to me. The literature of this land (Bengal) is not merely Hindu literature, nor can it be said to be a Moslem literature. Since both Hindus and Moslems have written in one language (Bengali), the literature of this land is both Hindu and Moslem. Those who would separate the two and make literature will not last many day, I am sure. Because of the universality of appeal in the world of literature, sectarian thought is out of place there (Jasim Uddin, 1964.

Bengali Folk Song by Poet Jasim Uddin "Come to Garden by Night" Nishte Jaio Phul bane, O Bhomora Come to the garden by night. My bee. I shal stay up the night Lighting the lamp of moon And talking to the dew drops My bee. Come to the garden by night should I fall asleep Tread softly my bee, Do not break the branch Or crush my flowers. Or awaken the flower that is asleep Come to the garden by night. My bee. Translated by: Hasna Jasim Uddin Moudud.

Bengali Folk Song written by Poet Jasimuddin His songs (Word and music by Jasim Uddin) recorded in Calcutta till 1947 which spread to all over Bengal :", Are O Rangila Nayer Mazhi (Abbas Uddin, His Master Voice (HMV), O Amar Gahin Ganer Naya (Abbas Uddin, His Master Voice (HMV), Nadir Kul Nai ((Abbas Uddin, His Master Voice (HMV)), Amar Bandhu Binodia, (Gopali Bala, Hidustan), Ami Ar Kato Bajabo Bashi (Uma Basu, HMV), Ujan Ganger Naya (Abdul Alim, HMV), O Amar Daradi, O Pran Bandhu Re (Gopali Bala, Hidustan), O Tui Jare aghat Hanlire Mone((Abbas Uddin, His Master Voice (HMV)), Ganger Kulre Gelo Bhangia, (Abbas Uddin, His Master Voice (HMV) Nishite Jaio Phulo Bane (Kumar Shachin Dev Barman, Hidustan), Badol Bashi Ore Bandhu (Kallani Sen, Megaphone), Balu Charer Meya (Namita Sen, Twin), Bashari Amar Harai Giache, (Namita Sen, Hindustan). Prano shokhi re oi shone kodombo tole (Abbas Uddin, His Master Voice (HMV)), 'O amar dorodi age janle(Abbas Uddin, His Master Voice (HMV)). and many orthers---- The songs like Ujan Ganger Naya. 'Nishite Jaio Phulo Bane', 'Prano shokhi re oi shone kodombo tole' or 'O amar dorodi age janle' still persist and have been the backbone of Bengali folk music in this country. Jasim Uddin writes; he admits that his songs and Abbasuddin's voice made a unique combination which ignited fire in the music world and was not replicated by any other performance, What this duo could achieve in just a few songs (10-12 bhatialis) was unparalleled in their impact on the Muslim community.

Bengali Folk Song by Poet Jasim Uddin Music and Lyrics: Jasim Uddin Our country of East Bengal is very beautiful. So many poets-many makers of tunes, are lying under the shade of the trees, under the roofs of the farmers' broken-down cottages, in the depth of the forest, in the shadowy corners of the jute fields, in a thousand moods and a thousand postures to paint the hopes and aspirations, the sorrows and the happiness of the land. There is not a single village where there is not a poet-not a single little community without its singer; and their songs pour forth incessantly as the bird-music echoes in the breeze. In our country the leaves of the trees and the changing movement of the paddy-fields make a colourful embroidery, and always there is pageant of green-vivid green, cool green, dim green, bright green, dull green, cloudy green, green that is blue almost to blackness; shade after shade of entrancing green such as cannot be found anywhere else on earth. In the folk-tunes of the country the greenness speaks. How many tunes shall I name? How many festivals shall I describe? In the tragic song of Imam Hussain, in gipsy songs, baul songs, murshida songs, rain songs, in songs innumerable the lovers call those they love, in song they invoke their God, in song they draw down the elemental powers and compel the clouds into the sky.

Folk song by Poet Jasimuddin Music and Lyrics: Jsaim uddin Singer: S. D. Burman Jasim Uddin poet and litterateur, poet of the people of Bengal ("Pallikabi") Our country of East Bengal is very beautiful. So many poets-many makers of tunes, are lying under the shade of the trees, under the roofs of the farmers' broken-down cottages, in the depth of the forest, in the shadowy corners of the jute fields, in a thousand moods and a thousand postures to paint the hopes and aspirations, the sorrows and the happiness of the land. There is not a single village where there is not a poet-not a single little community without its singer; and their songs pour forth incessantly as the bird-music echoes in the breeze. In our country the leaves of the trees and the changing movement of the paddy-fields make a colourful embroidery, and always there is pageant of green-vivid green, cool green, dim green, bright green, dull green, cloudy green, green that is blue almost to blackness; shade after shade of entrancing green such as cannot be found anywhere else on earth. In the folk-tunes of the country the greenness speaks. How many tunes shall I name? How many festivals shall I describe? In the tragic song of Imam Hussain, in gipsy songs, baul songs, murshida songs, rain songs, in songs innumerable the lovers call those they love, in song they invoke their God, in song they draw down the elemental powers and compel the clouds into the sky. Jasimuddin's deep involvement in non-communal socio-political movements championing the cause of Bengali language and literature gives his lyric and folksy poetry a keen edge of commitment and protest. His poems are popular as part of school curricula in West Bengal, India as much as in Bangladesh. Bangla musical genres like Aul, Baul, Marfati and Murshidi are heavily influenced by the mystic philosophy found in the Charyapadas. Besides, Vaishnava Padabalis--songs and verses praising Lord Vishnu--have also influenced Bangla music. Michael Madhusudan Dutta, Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam and Jasimuddin were immensely influenced by mysticism, Sufism and Baul doctrines (A touch of the mystic , 2004).

KI BALIBO SONAR CHAND MUSIC AND LYRICS: POET JASIM UDDIN SINGER: RATHINRANATH ROY Jasimuddin's deep involvement in non-communal socio-political movements championing the cause of Bengali language and literature gives his lyric and folksy poetry a keen edge of commitment and protest. His poems are popular as part of school curricula in West Bengal, India as much as in Bangladesh. When one reads his lyrics, like Gourigirir meye (a sensitive yet heart felt invocation to Goddess Durga) and Anurodh (a chiselled love poem woven in folk rhythm) and then goes on to respond to his two evergreen dramatic poems Naksi-kanthar Math and Sojonbadiar Ghat, one concludes that the label ‘village-bard’ is an example of inadequate salutation. Both these ballads cross the prescribed limits of folk poetry. In fact, they articulate a secular and humanist vision in a diction that is earth-sprung and elegant. No wonder, both these ‘modern’ ballads, replete with social conflicts, have been dramatised, His poetry appears like the breeze from the countryside that cools the sighs and sweats of urban living. He is congratulated for creating a new school of poetry ; Dr. Dinesh chandra Sen.

Jasim Uddin writes: In the old days the life of our country had been one integrated whole. There was no clear-cut line between the outlook and enjoyments of the rich and the poor, and there was give-and-take between the songs and stories of the scholars and those of literate villagers. The song of the poorest peasant, playing his one-stringed instrument in a remote corner of the village .might echo through the seven stories of a great man's house and bring delight there. A prince or a landlord would not hesitate to join the small knot of people who collected in the market-place to listen to .a ragged, wandering teller of tales. Before passing on he might even pay tribute to the artist's skill by hanging some rich gem round his neck. But now the culture of the modern educated classes was quite cut off from the traditional, unwritten literature of the illiterate. They despised the tradition because it was mixed up with ignorant superstitions, false religious beliefs and outworn ways of thought which would not stand the cold light of logic.

Bhatiali by Indro Mohon Raj Bankshi Lyrics and Music by Jasim Uddin: Bhatiali: music of fishermen and boatman, almost always tied by a common raga (mode), sung solo. Bangladesh is a country of rivers.Like the tendrils of a creeper, or like the ornments hanging on a women's limbs, the sweeping curves and half-curves lines of innumerable rivers have traced a network over the fields. In rainy season number of people take to their boats. The songs of the countryside are the voice of the river. Who is he, the unknown, unvisible maker of the village tunes, stroking the rivers with his softfingered wavy hands as a player strokes the strings of an instrument, creating the many-coloured songs of Bengal in the bhatiali tunes. (From: Folk Songs of East Bengal by Jasim Uddin- Essays of Jasim Uddin Part II,Palash Publication, Dhaka, 2001).