An Article on Salil Chowdhury - Part 3/3 (long)
Sambit Basu
Salil Chowdhury: A Phenomenon in Modern Bengali Music
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- Manab Mitra
(Part 3)
By shifting his place of work from Calcutta to Bombay in the '50s, Salil
Chowdhury also moved out of phase of direct political statement in song. It
would, however, be wrong to assume that his lyrics took leave of left-wing
politics or social concerns. Moreover, despite the preponderance of
political
lyrics, Salil had also written songs in which politics was not the
principal
motivation. And it was this type of lyricism that tended to prevail in his
work from the '60s. Along with the changing dimensions of his lyrics, there
came newer dimensions of his music. His exposure to wider horizons and
varied
experiences in the large film world of Bombay and later south India brought
fresh
challenges which he met by expanding and sharpening his compositional
capacities.
This was the period in which Salil Chowdhury's modes of composition and
orchestration became more influenced by Western classical music, on the one
hand,
and Hindustani 'ragas' on the other. It is interesting to note the growth
of a
young composer who came from rural Bengal with a flute in his hand, leaning
heavily on folk music in the beginning. That young man traveled a long way
to
become almost a classicist, using wide and deeps strings and horns with
movements
strongly resembling those of a classical Western orchestra and, at the same
time,
composing nostalgic tunes in Bageshri and Kalavati as well. Salil
Chowdhury's
treatment of and compositions in several 'ragas' are as remarkable and as
uniquely
his own as his experiments with Western classical music. But, as observed
before,
Salil methodically refused to follow any convenient line of action. He
refused to be
satisfied with any definite mode of musical expression. His occasional
flirtations
with Mozart, his experiments with the relative minor and major scales which
have been seminally important impact on modern Indian music, his
adaptations
of the melodies of 'Soviet land so dear to every toiler' or even 'Happy
birthday to day', which he reworked into quite a serious song, 'Klan name
go',
his encounters with west Indian rhythms like Lavern, his deep attachment to
the nostalgic tone colors of Champ, his sudden composition in Hamsadhwani
in Ektal
- nothing in particular can define him.
The compositional variety Salil Chowdhury has shown in music has tended to
surpass
his lyric art with the passage of time. His lyrics have sometimes betrayed,
despite
the strong overall appeal of his songs, an unfortunate inconsistency of
language.
In written Bengali, the so called 'chaste form' ('sadhu bhasha') of verb
declination
has been effectively discarded long ago. The living everyday language, the
language
of contemporary literature and that of the media, are generally free from
all
traces of archaic forms. From the '50s, the tendency has been towards
adoption of
colloquialism and this has rapidly grown stronger with time. But in modern
Bengali
songs the lyrics has somehow retained, though not always, a linguistic
archaism
for a painfully long time. Some lyrists have, of course, tried to avid the
inertia
of archaism as much as possible, especially since the '60s. But due to the
absence
of any strong tradition of music criticism and rather uncritical public
acceptance,
archaic forms and worn-out phrases have survived in the modern Bengali
lyric with
an alarming tenacity. It is not at all uncommon to find colloquialism
sitting right
next to a devastating archaism - something which would never be forgiven in
Bengali
literature. This persistent archaism and its annoying coexistence with
colloquialism
is not only illogical but absurd, especially when encountered in a
contemporary
and urban musical idiom, with modern orchestration and all. It is rather
disturbing
that even in the late '70s and early '80s, examples of such contradictions
could
be found scattered in some of Salil Chowdhury's songs. The fact that this
self-contradictory mixture of archaism and modernism has always been
present in a lot
modern Bengali songs cannot justify the appearance of such anachronism in
the
lyrics of a composer like Salil Chowdhury who has otherwise changed and
revolutionized
the modern Bengali song.
However, from the '60s right up to the '80s, when most of the recorded
modern Bengali
songs revealed a surprising indifference to the society out of which they
grew, Salil
Chowdhury's lyrics offered, from time to time, perceptible indications of
social
awareness and concern. His songs and lyrics never failed to address
important
social issues and maladies which almost all other established lyrists of
our times
have methodically excluded from their work. One of the most remarkable
examples
is a song recorded by his daughter, Antara, in the '70s. In that song, a
little
girl asks her mother to tell her a different story - and not one that
starts with
the customary 'Once upon a time there was a king and a queen...' The keeps
asking her mother, with a child's innocence, questions which are
essentially
explosive. Questions about social injustice, the evils of a society divided
into
haves and have-nots, which may well appear strange and unreasonable to
children.
Salil Chowdhury, wrote this song, essentially critical and political in
nature,
from a child's point of view - an attempt which no other established
Bengali
lyrist is known to have made.
Composing songs for children is another exemplary aspect of Salil
Chowdhury's
contribution to our music. In the '70s and in early '80s he composed a
series of
songs for children, imbued with a wonderful sense of fun, highly
interesting
lyrics, melodies and orchestral work. In fact from the '70s and
increasingly, in
the early '80s, Salil Chowdhury's instrumentation underwent some evident
reorientation. The classicist tended to go pop. The instrumental idiom of
the then
popular Western music, which has created a new international soundscape
with
electronic and synthesized sounds, found increasing application in Salil
Chowdhury's work. This, added to the audibly enhanced role of chord
progression,
sent new vibrations through his music. In fact, this is probably a feature
which
has greatly influenced contemporary Bengali modern music in general. Always
in
love with movement, Salil has recorded a collection of his old political
songs
with new arrangements in the '80s. Though refreshingly experimental in
character, some of the arrangements do betray the weakness of exaggeration,
with
the vocal overtures sometimes conjuring up the image of some philharmonic
young people singing happily on their way to a picnic rather than political
protest.
His application of vocal harmony in this collection, 'Ghum bhangar gan'
(Songs
of Awakening), though displaying his sovereign authority over the
techniques of
harmony, do not always do justice to the purpose of these songs, should
there be
any.
Despite a few interesting additions, the present decade is proving to be
the
master's lean years. Is this a sign of fatigue? Lack of any motivation
other than
commercial? Has he also become a victim of the general decay pervading, of
late,
the entire soundscape of modern Indian music? Another question could be
equally
pertinent: How much can one expect of a composer who has, over several
decades,
generated most of the important accents in modern Bengali as well as Indian
music - and for how long?
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About the author:
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Manab Mitra is the penname of Suman Chatterjee. Suman
had a pretty long preparation in Hindustani classical music and in songs
of Rabindranath. He had also been a very close and active follower of
Bengali
modern songs. In early '70s, after cutting two discs of Rabindrasangeet
he abandoned his music career to go abroad. As a radio-journalist he
worked in France, USA and Germany. While staying abroad Suman took formal
lessons in Western music - classical guitar and piano. In late '80s he
gave up journalism, returned to Calcutta to try his career in Bengali
music.
His first cassette in 1992 gave him immense popularity and Bengali music
a much needed change. He works as lyrist, composer, arranger and singer of
his songs. Suman probably is the most discussed personality in Bengali
cultural scenario in last couple of decades.