|
|
|
|
|
What Makes Bangla Bands Rock: A Study of Identity, Space and Music - Soma Banerjee
|
|
?Chandrabindu ki Aantel na/
Jolpolice? Chandrabindu, 1998.
Roughly translated the words/ lyrics read something like this, ?Is Chandrabindu intellectual or/ carnivorous or/ communal or?? Thus run the lines of one of Kolkata?s leading music bands, Chandrabindu?s song-Chandrabindu (self-titled). Flippant, tongue-in-cheek, sort of witty, but effectively capturing the mood of its listeners caught in a never-ending search for labels, for identity. In fact the questions asked in the song are the very questions which it seeks answers to not only for its own existence but also, by proxy, for its ?fans?, for the listeners of urban-rock music in the metropolis of Kolkata. Post Bangla Adhunik Gaan, post remixes of Bangla Adhunik Gaan, post Suman(considered to be pass頢y many) and in the shadow of and always acknowledging the precedence of Mahimer Ghoraguli, Bangla rock seeks to create challenging answers to the question of globalization in modern Bengali culture, actively embracing cultural hybridities to create new socially conscious, culturally progressive conceptions of Bengali identity in the 1990s and beyond. Identities have always been in process, in question, open-ended and in the making. What, today, has seemingly become more acute with the ?crisis of identity?, has located in a critique of certain existing forms of ethnic, linguistic, national, sexual and gendered individuality is the impossibility of ignoring that perpetual sense of process by appealing to a stable or fixed state. Rendered vulnerable by proximity and the intersection of my world by the worlds of others, my identity is both contested and reconfigured in the reply to such intrusions. But of all the languages available to the youth of today, for make no mistake that Bangla rock is essentially a movement by, for and of the Bengali youth, to bridge the distance between who we are and what we desire to become, Rock (itself a product of mutation and transfiguration of various music genres, lost and rootless and considered by many to be dead ) music became the favoured medium of articulation of that fragmented, lost and homeless soul which seeks a route to locate its roots.
The short but illustrious history of Bangla urban music or rather, the music of Calcutta, can be assumed to have begun with the songs of the mistresses (Baijis) performed to entertain their feudal lords (Babus) in the early nineteenth century. However,in the hands of Ramnidhi Gupta did it reach its first formal and to a certain extent popular articulation. Till this day his songs often refered to as Nidhubabur Toppa, (Nidhubabu?s Toppa),is associated with what can be labeled as Purano Kolkatar Gaan (the Songs of Old Calcutta). Bangla urban music was further enriched by numerous songs from the Bengali stage and also thrived in the many minor genres like Baithaki or Kabigaan sung mainly on festive occasions, till the later half of the nineteenth century, which saw the rise of musical geniuses like Rabindranath Thakur and Dwijendralal Roy. While Rabindranath left us the vibrant legacy of Rabindrasangeet, Roy has been best remembered for his patriotic compositions, but both of them pioneered the use of western musical styles alongside folk elements in Bangla songs. The 1930s saw the beginning of the long tradition of Bangla Adhunik Gaan (Bengali Modern Songs) which continued uninterrupted well into the seventies. Most of these songs set out to celebrate the idyllic, romantic love between man and woman in which everything, somehow, seemed to depend on the fortunes of their amorous enterprise. The rise of the cult of Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen and their ?romantic? movies strengthened this particular genre where love was the be all of existence, all expression and all performance. The songs made for the movies were of the same flavour as the Bangla Adhuni Gaan. The ?bhadralok? culture had found the perfect vehicle to spread and entrench itself in the psyche and the social cultural milieu of the Bengalis. It is important to note that around the same time that Bangla Adhunik Gaan was thriving in its fame and glory, a potent pan-Indian culture reflected through the Hindi films was in place at the National level. These Hindi films too had songs, much in the same vein as their Bengali counterparts but could not topple the latter from its chart-topping position in Bengal, nor mount a solid challenge. Radio played its part in the popularity of singers like Hemant Kumar, Manna Dey, Sandhya Mukherjee to name just a few. Programmes like ?Anurodher Ashor? (Programme of Requests), a predecessor to MTVs and Channel V?s ?by demand? or ?video on request? shows determined the fortunes of not only many songs but also their singers. As mentioned earlier the content of such songs had nothing, which reflected the times of which they were a part. Performance and rendition-wise they were mostly solo efforts, where the individual singer held sway and commanded the fanatic respect of many. In this uninterrupted flow of modern Bangla urban music the one notable exception was of course the music of Salil Chowdhury, arguably the single most important influence on later urban folk. Chowdhury?s songs, composed in the wake of the left-wing cultural activism of the IPTA (Indian People?s Theatre Association) in the 1940s and 50s, constituted a new sub-genre of Gaanasangeet (Public Songs).Salil Chowdhury?s achievement lies not only in his brilliant reworking of traditional folk tunes to convey explosive political messages but perhaps, more importantly, in his extensive use of the back-up orchestra that set the stage for the emergence of band music. In his work, the ?orchestra achieved its much needed liberation? (Chattopadhyay 1982:Part 3), and along with the innovative use of percussion he accorded the accompanying instruments the status of voices capable of making statements to qualify or modify those made by the human voice. The foregrounding of the orchestra was to become the ubiquitous feature of the musical arrangements of band music later. The death of Uttam Kumar in the late 1970s changed the story that had been unfolding so far. Films, which had become the mainstay of popular Bengali culture devoid of their ?guiding star? started to lose their popular appeal. The music scene too started to change. The idyllic, feel good world of Bangla Adhunik music had outlived its course and successive generations growing up in the age of a globalized modernity fraught with newer complexities began to search for an alternative musical idiom, an idiom which could then attempt to voice their aspirations and failures, could speak of contemporary socio-cultural conditions, a music which they could try and identify with. It was the delayed arrival of this globalized late-modernity in Bangla music, perhaps best understood as an attitude of ?questioning of the present, whether in vernacular or in cosmopolitan terms? (Gaonkar 1999:13). A new band called Moheener Ghoraguli [Moheen?s Horses] (naming themselves in an allusion to the prominent Bangla modernist poet Jibanananda Das), probably made the first attempt to articulate this in their musical endeavours when they brought out their first record ? Sangbigna Pakhikul o Kolkata Bishayak [Ruffled Feathers and Of Kolkata] in 1977. The break with the mainstream was decidedly accomplished in the lyrics ? it was song writing more than anything else that was revolutionised by them and a colloquial, metropolitan idiom has subsequently become a defining feature of most Bangla urban music.The decade of 1980 witnessed and uneasy silence of muffled sounds as Calcutta and Bengal, were struggling to come to terms with the unsettling legacy of the Naxalite movement and the death of Tollygunge cinema and its parallel music apparatus The arrival of Suman Chattopadhyay in the early nineties revived the trend of experimental Bangla modern songs. The success of Suman?s songs saw others following in his footsteps and emulating not only his oeuvre but also his success. Newcomers like Nachiketa Chakrabarti and Anjan Dutta and veterans like Pratul Mukhopadhyay and Ranjan Prasad emboldened by Suman?s endeavours took up their guitar once again. It is essential to keep in mind that the nineties also saw India entering the phase of ?privatisation? and globalisation. Private channels became a part of national and local radio and television. 1992 saw the emergence of satellite channel in India and global music was no longer ?out there? but became a part of our drawing room conversation. Hindi films which had been down in the doldrums during the entire 80s decade received a shot of new blood and emerged as the most potent form and force of popular culture at a pan-Indian level. Hindi film music started to dominate music sensibilities across the whole length of the country and set new records for number of albums sold. Shahrukh Khan and Kajol became the new referent point for a whole generation spanning the entire length and breadth of the country. Songs,which topped the popularity chart were once more about love and its various ups and downs. Amidst all these national invasions which definitely sought to homogenize popular feelings and sentiments, Bangla rock emerged as the voice of the Bengali youth, speaking about their trial and tribulations, about their daily battles won and lost, and most of all creating a space called Kolkata and an identity other than and beyond the national one.
Recent research into popular music has talked about the ?space producing qualities of music?. And this is very much evident in the songs of these popular rock bands where the city of Kolkata and its mundane roads and by-lanes, the shambling cafes and road-side tea-stalls, the favoured hang outs of yesterdays, todays and tomorrows? youth, commonplace otherwise, are infused with a dreamy quality.Keeping the intellectual predicament of the urban folk singer in mind, we can see a conscious attempt to coalesce the local with global cultural modernity in their lyrics. There is also the attempt to initiate a dialogue between the suburb and urban. When Chandrabindu talks about Muffasal (roughly translated can stand for suburb or even small towns) in their songs about urban Kolkata, they are merging the two, giving the former the respect, dignity and identity which, so far, had been denied to it in popular songs. The locality that is produced in their songs is that of the problematic space in-between the city and the suburb, where the sense of belonging to the city overrides the innocent charm of the small town (beautifully evoked in the song Pheeke Hoye Aashe Andhokar/As Dusk Falls for instance), or the mind boggling contradictions of Calcutta?s public culture that leads them to invert all settled cultural assumptions about modern urban life (Jhilmil/Sparkle). The audience of such songs is not limited to the city as such.
Love continues to be the mainstay of popular songs across the globe. With its successful appropriation by Hindi films and its songs, talking about love had to be pegged in the daily and everyday life if their songs had to stand out and carve out its own niche. Thus when Chandrabindu sings,
Jodi bolo hain,
jodi bolo kobi In this song the lover serenading his lover does not promise the stars and moon. Instead his promises are about daily commonplace things, about reciting not Tagore but Joy Goswami (a modern poet). Even the term of endearment used is not one which belongs to the category of high-vaulting, like say ?priya? (beloved) or Hollywood inspired but the very oft-used, mundane ?shona?(meaning for the lack of a better word beloved/ precious). However the twist in the tale comes with the last line of the song, ?jodi bolo aadi, tomakeo chhede jati pari?, where the same lover warns his beloved that she is not irreplaceable. Reflecting the fly-by nature of relationships today where everything comes with an expiry date, the shift in the lover?s attitude does reflect the times of which the song is a part. Or when Bhumi sings,
Banrandaye roddur ?Tomar Dekha nei? (You are nowhere) the waiting and yearning for love are made a part of everyday living as the lover waits for his lover to show up reading a newspaper on a sundrenched winter morning, the waiting is shorn off glamour or even longing and made casual. Emotions are spatialised in this metropolitan love song, and those spaces are reproduced in an effort to bring home the distinctively modern urban flavour of the music.
Having talked at length about the content of these songs lyrics-wise let us turn our attention to the other important ingredient of songs-music. It is important to note here that with a few exceptions, almost all the members of these popular bands have are products of English-medium, private schools. As such their musical idols are the likes of Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Doors, U2, Bob Marley, Jim Morrison and their likes. Their musical influences range from rock?n? roll to jazz, blues, hard rock, reggae, Carribean calypso. The sounds emanating from these bands reflect these traditions. But there is also the other side of the story where Bengali folk music and even the musical traditions of Toppa are enmeshed with their ?western? cousin and what is born is a sound that is different but not new. Even before these bands took it upon themselves to make the ?twain? meet, stalwarts had already achieved the same feat before them. Many of Tagore?s songs internalized western melodies and gave them a distinctly Indian flavor. Salil chowdhury worked with Russian folk tunes and Indian folk tunes with equal aplomb and gave us music that is still new. With the new wave rock bands this reworking, this fusing of two different musical traditions does not engender a new sound, a new musical tradition, there is no creation of a third space of sound. The 4-4 beat is merely superimposed on a song where the melody is distinctly Bengali folk. The tabla and the drum does not come up with something new, each exists in its own given space performing its standard routine. The same holds true for the guitar and the ?ektara? or the saxophone and the flute. Within these bands there are those who are ?claim? to be more pure and true to the rock tradition than the next one. This is also reflected in the ?listening? audience. While Paraspathar with its tonal and musical proximity to hard-core rock appeals to the more urban, upper-middle class, mobile totting young crowd, Chandrabindu with its more ?bangali? flavor has more ?fan-following? amongst the middle class, Bengali-medium educated youth. The former has elaborate and intricate movements played out by its lead guitarist, the lead singer ?headbanging? and exuding engery a-la-Bruce Springsteen and the bass guitarist waiting patiently for his moment of glory. The latter has only its lead singers, out of whom only one has a guitar hanging around his neck, taking center stage while back-up performers who are not regular members of the band provide the music. Music more often than not takes a back seat to lyrics, which are of paramount importance to the song. Maybe because it is the words that sets apart their difference and the individual spaces of these rock bands.
The above description is what befits the audience of Bangla rock best. The youth of today?s Bengal desperately craving for a sense of self, in their quest to be who want to be have decided that the rock bands have answers to their questions. The rock bands in turn have sought to create their own audience and an image best suiting their content. Globalization, the impact of private television channels, MTV, and the pan-Indian homogenizing effect of Indian films have played its part in creating a ?self in simulacrum?. The need to be different exists in coalescence with the need to dress like Shahrukh/Kajol/J.Lo.; to hit a four or better six like Sachin Tendulkar; to do well in GRE and to work for either Gates or Narayanmurthy. The ?Bhadralok? is still there with all his sensibilities and ideologies-its just that now he wears jeans and even if it is a ?dhoti? it has to be Sarbari Duttas. In this conflicting world, Bangla rock bands, smartly packages by music companies turn out old wine in new bottles. The difference is only in posturing, only in the stating of the word ?different?. Scratch beneath the surface and you will still find ?boshe achhi potho cheye? only now the words are ?tomaar dekha nei?. The sentiments, the need, even the style of articulation remains unscathed. In fact the gendered subject is still silenced in these songs. The composition is mainly about and from a man?s point of view. The composer/singer is usually a man who has his axe to grind with the opposite sex and sees her only as an object of lust/ love/ possession. There are hardly any all-girls band even though some bands do have female vocalist. In this respect they are like their Westerns counterparts where the white-male singer screams out his frustration against the world and women too.
As I come to the end of this piece, Suman Chattopadhay, the man who started it all, and Anjan Dutta have come out with their first cassette of songs rendered in English. What message does that carry for Bangla music, for urban culture in Kolkata and for our rock Bands? Will they go the same way? What about the audience? Will they accept an English version of ?Pochar Ma?? Will Bangla rock mature to produce a third space of dialogue, enquiry, expression, imagination. The answer as Bob Dylan said years ago ?is blowing in the wind?. |
 |
 |
 |
