Cuttack, March 15: Songs of Bengal's legendary balladeer, lyricist and composer Kabir Suman can be heard in Odia with music album - Anya Katha Anya Gita - ready to hit the stands.
The album is the product of singer Namrata Mohanty's desire to make Cuttack-born musician Kabir Suman's Bengali songs translated and recorded in Odia. Taking up the onus, Namrata has sung Suman's songs for an audio CD produced under her own music label Symphony Digital Audio.
Last year, Namrata released her solo album Nazrul Geeti, a rendition of Odia translation of famous Bengali love songs of Kazi Nazrul Islam.
" Anya Katha Anya Gita is an audio album of Kabir Suman's 12 most popular songs translated into Odia. It is a musical tribute to mark the singer's deep connection with Odisha, especially his birthplace Cuttack which he still loves and reminisces," Namrata told The Telegraph today.
"Suman was born in Cuttack on March 16, 1949. Odia was the first language he spoke while growing up in the city for six years before moving to Calcutta and learning Bengali," said Namrata, a B-High grade singer of All India Radio, Cuttack.
In a message to Namrata, Suman said: "I never thought it would happen, never even dreamt of it. I started speaking Odia before I spoke Bengali. I was born close to the river Kathajodi in Cuttack in 1949. Only a man born on the banks of a river knows what a river is. Today as I stare before me I think of my departure, my childhood memories come back to me with the sound of my river Kathajodi."
In a message inscribed on the Odia album, Suman writes: "Today, as my life draws toward its end, I think of Cuttack where my senses started growing and I became aware of things. I thank all the good people who are recording my songs in Odia. My salute and love to all who are involved in this project."
Songs of Kabir Suman, popularly known as Sumaner Gaan, made a defining presence in modern Bengali music for its simple words and profound feelings in the early 90s. Also referred to by many as Bob Dylan of India, Suman has written, composed, arranged and sung over 1,000 songs. The maverick singer-composer had also dabbled in politics and was also elected to Parliament on a Trinamul Congress ticket.
Last year, Namrata had adapted and recorded the most popular song of Suman - Tomake Chai - with a different music arrangement on experimental basis. "We uploaded the song on You Tube and it became very popular. Encouraged by the overwhelming response from our Odia music lovers, we decided to go ahead with a complete studio album of his 12 songs," the singer said.
"It was a huge challenge for me to record this album as the lyrics with powerful and thought provoking words as well as the musical styles were totally different. It was possible due to the hard work of the music arranger and sound engineer Nitya Sriranjan," Namrata added.
Director of Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal, and writer Mrinal Chatterjee translated the lyrics into Odia, while Devdas Chhotray did the lyrical adaptations. Chatterjee said: "This was my first attempt at translating songs and I must say Suman's lyrics proved to be a difficult job."
Professor of cultural studies at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, Sudipto Chatterjee, in his message to Namrata, said: "Kabir Suman's songs deserve a wider audience than what they have received in Bengal, because even they are based on a specific geo-cultural context, the humanity, hope, love, concern and anger they express are universal.. Hope the Odia versions set a trend."
