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| Bob Dylan: Birthday boy |
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?...
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind…
Shillong, May 23: Little did Bob Dylan realise that the song he had penned while sipping coffee with his friend would become an anthem during the anti-war and civil rights movement. And if you love to strum the guitar to the Freewheelin’ singer’s compositions, be sure to turn up at his birthday celebrations in Shillong.
The town, which has been celebrating the Tambourine Man’s birthday for the past 35 years, has elaborate plans this year too. Poets, singers and artistes will come together at Ri Kynjai resort near the picturesque Umiam lake to pay tribute to the legend on his 66th birthday tomorrow.
“This year, the events have been divided into two parts. The first one starts at 1 pm at Ri Kynjai where poets, songwriters, artistes and musicians will congregate and the other at Cloud 9 in Shillong where the Ace of Spades will belt out Dylan songs,” said musician Lou Majaw.
Majaw, along with Calcutta and Mumbai-based musicians Arjun Sen, Nondon Bagchi and Lew Hilt, try their best to make every May 24, “an occasion to treasure.”
“It has been a great journey from 1972 when we started out,” Majaw says, as he recalled how it all began as a folk festival to “honour Dylan” from an auditorium of a club house.
Larsing Ming, who has been instrumental in promoting many Dylan celebrations, is confident that “this time the show will be another memorable occasion.”
Paying tribute to Dylan on his 66th birthday will be a motley group of poets, singers and artistes, which includes urban affairs minister Paul Lyngdoh, minister of higher and technical education R.G. Lyngdoh, poet and folklorist Desmond Kharmawphlang, poet Baribajubon, Meghalaya director of sports Aldus Mawlong, filmmaker Anjan Dutt and artist Benedict Hynniewtta, among others.
And if that is not incentive enough for Dylan fans to make it to the celebrations, organisers of the event have made elaborate plans to distribute the Dylan songbook, which has been prepared by Majaw for all Dylan fans.
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