Mousumi Bhowmik

How Birendra Chattopadhyay without any institutional patronage attained a mythical popularity among the Leftist radicals remains one of the potent illustrations of the power and the sweep of 20th century Bengali poetry. The 86th birthday of this activist poet was solemnly observed by Kabi Birendra Chattopadhyay Smaran Committee at Sisir Mancha (September 2), reiterating his undying poetic vision.

Tributes were paid first and foremost in musical terms. Pratul Mukhopadhyay had set many of Chattopadhyay’s poems into tune in 1985. The musical version, Nyangto chhele akashe haat barhay, evoked an emphatic reaction from a sparse audience. At his best Mukhopadhyay sings like a man possessed. It was all the more evident in the musical rendering of a notable transcreation of Mao Tse Tung’s legendary Long March where Chattopadhyay transposed the vision of a prisoner awaiting a new dawn.

Mousumi Bhowmik’s recital at the end can be read as an extension of Chattopadhyay’s humanitarian concerns. Accompanied by Dhruba Basu Roy on the guitar and Satyaki Sarkar on the sarod, Bhowmik concentrated on the purifying effect of water on the mind to start with. Songs were presented as an amalgamated concept.

The following segment saw her personal experience with motherhood. The one in which a would-be mother offers the best of her achievements to her offspring (Tor-i janya sharirer bhare ami nata) was something unique in the Bengali musical canon. In Ei je akash the voice of Rousseu was echoed in laying down norms for the noble savage. She complemented them with a composition made memorable by Ritwik Ghatak as a testament on exploitation of girl child (Gouridan).

Lately Bhowmik is picking up traditional Bengali numbers. They underline her eclectic oeuvre, besides renewing those traditional numbers for an urban audience.

The poetry-reading session deserves mention for some outstanding performances. Amitava Dasgupta’s Ekdin echoed Chattopadhyay’s concerns in the most equivocal terms. The dilemma of a man torn between opposing pulls of earth and water was presented in an inimitable fashion by Sagar Chakra-borty, while Bipul Chakraborty startled listeners with a sensitive commentary on tribals mesmerised by Ramkinkar Baij’s masterpieces at Santiniketan.