Dony Hazarika with Zubeen Garg

Dec. 15: For city-based music director Dony Hazarika, fusion is the mantra which drives him to explore new tunes and also cross geographical barriers.

Having scored music for hit Assamese movies, Hazarika has composed tunes for a Bangladeshi album, Jibaner Shima Nai, where he has fused tunes of the dhol and the pepa.

He is also working on three other Bangladeshi albums ? Iccha Kore, Haire Mobile and Hahakar Ei Buker (all Bangla folk re-mixes). Though Hazarika has directed music for several Assamese feature films, his first love continues to remain fusion music. ?I want to take the rich traditional folk music of the region to greater heights. I score music for the commercial films for my bread and butter, but prefer to innovate on fusion music,? he said.

He was ecstatic about his latest project ? directing and composing the music for the first Tiwa feature film Khumjil Khuwori where Zubeen Garg has lent his voice. ?The directors of the film, Dipen Pator and Pankaj Pator, explained the sequence of the songs and explained the rhythm of Tiwa music to me. It was very interesting to work on the film based on a romantic story of the lesser-known tribe,? Hazarika said.

In this project too, he has tried to fuse Tiwa folk music with modern melody. ?If I had added only the Tiwa musical elements to the album, it would have been limited to a select group of listeners. Now, the music will have a wider appeal,? he said.

Hazarika had his early initiation into music with tabla lessons from Dilip Ranjan Barthakur for 12 years in Dibrugarh. He was trained in western music by late Rana Roy, a lead guitarist and founder of the Fusion band from Calcutta and a musician in Louis Banks? band. He had also assisted the king of jingles, Vanraj Bhatia, in several tunes.

Next on the cards is a grand project ? a CD on the hit folk songs of the seven states in association with Zubeen Garg and pianist Neil Nongkynreigh from Shillong. He is also working on Mising music and culture with Father Thomas Kalapura, former headmaster of Don Bosco School, Dibrugarh.

At present, Hazarika is working on the music of Antahin Jatra, a film based on Mamoni Raisom Goswami?s story.