Artistes perform at the function in Calcutta on Sunday. Picture by Sanat Kr Sinha

Calcutta, June 21: Bishnu Rabha Divas was observed in the city — the country’s cultural capital — over the past two days with a call to build cultural bridges, break barriers of language and strengthen the bond of humanity.

Asam Sahitya Sabha, in collaboration with Sahitya Akademi, organised a literary forum to observe the death anniversary of Kalaguru Bishnu Prasad Rabha at the Sahitya Akademi auditorium here this evening. A documentary on Rabha was also screened.

Last evening, Kolkata Sahitya Chora and Assam Socio Literary (ASL) Club observed Rabha Divas at Assam Bhawan, for the first time in the city, to reminisce the contributions of the cultural doyen.

Intellectuals from Bengal and Assam recalled the genius in Rabha as a music composer, dancer, dramatist, artist and his association with Bengal as a youth, a fact still unknown to many.

Rabha, a revolutionary musician and a freedom fighter, was born in Dhaka (then a part of undivided India) in 1909 with an academic stint in Calcutta before moving to Assam.

“Bishnu Rabha was a multifaceted personality who had a significant relationship with Bengal during his academic life. Uni chilen ek bornomoy charitra,” was how writer-poet Ashish Sanyal described the Kalaguru.

Sanyal, however, said most Bengalis of the contemporary era are in the dark about Rabha’s work and hence a greater number of compositions needed to be translated into Bengali.

Asam Sahitya Sabha president and litterateur Rong Bong Terang said the observance of Rabha Divas for the first time in Calcutta was a significant occasion as it coincided with the celebrations of the 150th birth anniversary year of Rabindranath Tagore.

“People in Assam have urged the sabha to spread Rabha’s music and ideals outside the state. Calcutta, as the country’s cultural capital, emerges as the ideal destination for remembering the Kalaguru’s contributions and his relationship with Bengal as a youth,” he said.

Terang called upon one and all to shed ill feelings in the name of language and instil a positive thought process for a better tomorrow.

Recalling Rabha’s association with Bengali dancer-choreographer Uday Shankar, writer-poet Gautam Prasad Baroowa said a biography of Bishnu Rabha in Assamese and translated into English and Bengali was the need of the hour. He said Rabha was not just a true blue Communist leader or a social activist, but a reformer of society.

Anuradha Sharma Pujari, the editor of Sadin, a Guwahati-based Assamese daily, cited an example of cultural bonding in the yesteryears through an association of Assamese and Bengali poets called Purboiya. She said culture was a common thread through which differences or ill feelings between communities could be shed.

Terming the Kalaguru as a cult figure, writer Dilip Bora said it was time to look beyond memorial meetings and focus on an agenda through which Rabha’s ideals could be practised.

While artistes from Calcutta and Tripura paid musical tributes to the cultural doyen, those from Assam enriched the evening with a sumptuous presentation of the Kalaguru’s evergreen renditions.

The show began with a chorus, Siro Senehi Mor Bhaxa Janani (a composition by Purushottam Das), followed by Rabha’s masterpiece, Bol Bol Bol Bol Krixak Xakti Dol.

Rajya Sabha MP Kumar Dipak Das took the audience down memory lane with Rabha’s last composition in 1969, Ei mor sesh gaan.

A dance recital by Jyoti and Julie Hazarika entertained the gathering as Rabha’s composition, Xurore Deolore, sung by Bhupen Hazarika, was played in the background.

Sarveen Rahman Sultana, a student of Rabindra Bharati University here, presented Phul Konwari Rosonoi Loi Pare, while Kalpita Devi performed the popular a lively number, Ajoli Sowal. Sikha Bhattacharyya, with the immortal composition Poro Jonomor Xubho Logonor, instilled a sense of nostalgia among many a follower of Rabhasangeet.

Gopa Acharya, S. Bhowmik, Chobi Gogoi, Jina Rajkumari, Dipak Gogoi and a lucid recitation by Anupjyoti Choudhury enlivened the proceedings.

The function had begun with the sabha and Matri Bhasha Mission, West Bengal branch, felicitating all the speakers and distinguished guests.

It concluded with a chorus of Sahityarathi Lakshminath Bezbarua’s O Mor Apunar Desh — a fitting tribute to a visionary legend.