SONGS OF THE ROMANTIC ERA

How everlasting songs are! Singers are no more. Lyricists are no more. Composers are no more. But songs live on… transcending time, generations and man-made boundaries...to dwell in our hearts forever. In our pensive moments we hum the tunes and try to relive the days gone by. Many of us may not remember who sang the song, “Ei jiboner joto modhur bhulguli, daley daley photai je aaj buliey rongin onguli, ei jiboner joto modhur bhulguli…”, but the melody, the resounding cadence, will always make us tap with our feet and sway our head from side to side in sheer appreciation.

The league of extremely talented lyricists, composers and singers in Kolkata took Bangla songs to a new height of rapture in the 40s, 50s and 60s. During the same period modern and melodious Hindi songs from Bombay, created by an equally talented team of lyricists, composers and singers, came as big challenge to the Bangla music industry. But nothing could dent the spirit or curb the ingenuity of the maestros in Bengal. They kept producing soul-stirring songs for the appreciative audience. Great musical prodigies like Jaganmoy Mitra, Shatinath, Shaymal, Dijen, Tarun, Mrinal, Shubir Sen, Manabendra, Amal, Shailen, Panna lal, Dhananjay, Shudhir Lal, Robin Majumdar, Robin Chatterji, Shudhin Dasgupta, Alpana, Geeta Dutt, Shandhya, Utpala, Bani Ghosal, Supriti Ghosh, Pranab Roy, Gouriprashanna, Pulack Bannerji, Shaymal Gupta, Anupam Ghatak, Kamal Das Gupta   had already teamed up to offer one hit after another.  

Bangla music industry got a further boost when Hemanta Mukherji, Manna Dey, Shalil Chowdhury and Sachin Dev Barman, who were composing and producing Hindi songs full of rhythm and rhyme in Bombay since late 40s, started to compose and produce modern Bangla songs. As a result, with high quality Bangla film songs and yearly Puja hits keeping the audience captivated, Hindi songs remained the second choice among the Bangla speaking population. What could equal, “Runner” “Palki” and “Kono ek gayer bodhur kotha” ?  Two immortal creations by Shalil Chowdhury and Hemanta Mukherji.

The era gave the song lovers some unparalleled romantic songs that are still sung by people. Simple words and simple tune made those songs easy to comprehend and  easy to sing. Take for example the melodious Supriti Ghosh song, “Ei phuler deshe kon bhromor eshe ki kotha niey je kana kani kore jani ta jani ta jani..” . Nothing could be more simple and straightforward than this. What surprised me to know is that the lilting yet simple tune was set by none other than one of the musical stalwarts of the time, Manabendra Mukherji! Himself a great singer of Nazrul, classical and modern songs of a new rank and quality, he composed the tune keeping the meaning of the lyrics so clear and youthful. Then came, “Ei to hetai kunjo chhayai shopno modhur mohey, ei jiboner je koti din pabo, tomai amai heshey kheley katiey jabo dohey, shopno modhur mohey…”, what a memorable dream like song by Kishore Kumar! It would bring out in the open the fountain of love hidden so long inside the heart of any young man in love.

The interesting story of that great era is that if one singer gave a super hit song today, tomorrow another would give an equally good song to match. This competitive zeal brought the ultimate dividend to the audience as they got one memorable song after another to enjoy in their leisure hours. Some of the classic romantic numbers of the time are, “Chaiti raater purnima chand, jene gechhe monay monay, tumi amar ogo ami tomar chirotorey ei jiboney .....…”, lyrics, music and voice by Shaymal Mitra. Listen to the song a number of times and you will be amazed at the touch of class in all the three departments of the song. “Nirobey joto kotha bhebechhi monay monay, tomari shoroney ogo jibonero shathi…” this  beautiful song composed by Hemanta Mukherji and sung by Robin Mazumdar and Alpana Bannaerji remained in top ten chart for many years. Another Shaymal Mitra number, “Bhiru bhiru chokhey cheye chole gele, diley chhoto chhoto sriti monay…” , used to be sung by young singers in functions with great enthusiasm. One has to appreciate the middle part of this song where he sings, “Monay porey tomar lajuk shommodhon, abaar hobey dekha roilo nimantran…”.  It tells the tale of a mellowed heart longing to meet her paramour once again.                 

Manna De enthralled music lovers with his numbers, “Eto raag noi eje obhiman, e shudhu tomai chaoar, aro beshi kaschhey paoar chhol bhora gaan…” and “Rongini koto mor mon ditey chai, ki korey bhujhai kichhu chayina chayina…”  Hemanta Mukherji sang, “Olir kotha shuney bokul hashey, koi tahar moto tumi amar kotha shuney hasho nato…” and “O akash prodip jelona, O batash tumi heshona…amar priya lojja petey parey aha kachhey esheo chhole jete parey…”.