On Nirmalendu Chowdhury (and some Bengali folk / folk-based songs)

Ustad Vilayat Khan's fine biography, by Namita Devidayal, has a very interesting anecdote.

The anecdote is about the legendary folk singer of Bengal, Nirmalendu Chowdhury.

[Quote]

In 1955 Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India, visited Russia, and an Indian Cultural delegation accompanied him where Ustad Vilayat Khan was a member. Since then many years passed. Sometime during 1990s Khan Sahib called his friend in Kolkata and asked about a song which he heard in Russia in 1955, a song sung by an Indian folk singer, who was none other than Nirmaendu Chowdhury.

"As the lights dimmed in the grand Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, and the Russian sopranos’ voices soared divinely, the young Vilayat Khan started worrying about how the Indian performers could match this beauty. That was when one of the delegates, a Bengali folk singer called Nirmalendu Chowdhury, went on stage and sang the startlingly beautiful song that Khansahib was now haunted by.

Like many magical memories that get eroded in the flow of life, the words of the song had gone. What remained was the emotion. Now, so many years later, he wanted to sing the song. The folk singer had long since died, but his son Utpalendu Chowdhury was singing the same songs. Jayanta-da managed to get in touch with him. He called him that very day and said that Vilayat Khan wanted to meet him. The surprised singer agreed to come across...

The folk singer arrived in the morning. Vilayat spoke to him about the cultural delegation to Moscow and the lovely time he had with his father. Then he got straight to the point. He brought up the boat and the trees and hummed the tune.

‘Can you teach it to me?’

Utpalendu looked aghast. ‘Sure,’ he mumbled...

Vilayat Khan sat on the floor next to him.

‘What are you doing, Khansahib? You can’t sit there. Please sit on the couch.’

‘No, I am fine here. Today, I am the student and you are the teacher.’

Utpalendu smiled. He shut his eyes and sweetly sang the song for Vilayat Khan. Khansahib smiled as well as he wrote the words on a piece of paper in Urdu. About a month later, Vilayat Khan was performing at the Ramakrishna Mission outside Calcutta. He announced, ‘I want you to hear this folk tune which I had heard Nirmalendu Chowdhury sing many many years ago. It is an ode to all the boatmen who drift along the rivers of Bengal ...’.

He sang it beautifully, and the audience found themselves immersed in all the beauty and sadness of their land...

[Unquote] [The passage is a bit more elaborate & has been truncated to focus on the essence of the topic]

Here is the song. It was commercially recorded by Nirmalendu Chowdhury, later, in 1965 (not in good sound fidelity, though].

His sonorous voice seems to emanate from the very depths of the mystic rivers of Bengal.

The term Bhaatiyali comes from the term bhaaTa or low tide. The songs are serene & philosophical in nature beacuse the boat drifts slowly & the largely inactive boatman mulls over (his) life.

Nirmalendu Chowdhury's voice also displayed a majestic joie de vivre, in brisk boatman-songs as well. Here is one such example.

 

Outside of Bengal, admirers of Salil Chowdhury, know him as a composer who had a strong fondness for western music. However, he was an avid lover of folk music too, as his involvements with IPTA & Youth Choirs (of Bombay and Calcutta) indicate.

Salil Chowdhury was a close friend & admirer of Nirmalendu Chowdhury and had used his compelling vocals in the critically acclaimed Bengali movie, Ganga (1960).

This type of a brisk boat-song is called 'saari' & is sung when all the oarsmen are rowing in unision across a river in high tide. Nirmalendu Chowdhury's voice soars on the high notes like a powerful bird of prey.

Nirmalendu Chowdhury worked very closely with Salil Chowdhury for crafting all the songs of Ganga. Small wonder that Manna Dey felt so comfortable while recording this immortal song from the movie.

[For the sake of completeness, Salil Chowdhury used the same tune in the Hindi movie, Kabuliwala, sung by Hemanta Mukherjee / Hemant Kumar]:

Ramu Kariat, the movie director of Kerala must have been impressed by the musical score of Ganga. It led him to entrust Salil Chowdhury with the responsibility of composing music for the critically acclaimed Malayali movie, Chemmeen (1965). All the songs were hugely popular... not least, a solo in the young & vibrant vocals of K J Yesudas:

The above-mentioned tune has its genesis in this lovely song of Nirmalendu Chowdhury. (The similarity between the songs can be discerned in the antara-s).

To wrap up this discussion on Nirmalendu Chowdhury, here is folk song with a reference to Lord Krishna.

While the 'keertan'-s of Bengal are primarily about Lord Krishna. there are a few folk songs that also refer to the Lord & his 'leela'.

This vibrant boat-song' talks of the saga of the cowherd-ladies wanting to cross the river on a boat, navigated by Kanai (Kanhaiya).

The exuberence in Nirmalendu Chowdhury's voice, coupled with his effortless & tuneful singing across the high notes (with the chorus), has made this song, immortal.

Naushad Ali must have had the song in his subconscious mind while composing this solo of Lata Mangeshkar from the popular Hindi movie, Ganga Jumna:

Today is Nirmalendu Chowdhury's 100th birth anniversary. This post is a respectful tribute to this colossal artist.

There is hardly a Bengali of my generation (or my previous one), who has not heard this compilation of songs by him via this immortal Long Playing record.

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Post Script:

Ustad Vilayat Khan's love for Nirmalendu Chowdhury & his voice should surprise no one as he was born in Gouripur (in modern-day Bangaldesh) and was exposed to the folk music music of Bengal. He used to play delectable sitar passages to conclude his recitals used the nomenclature of Bhatiyaali for these (relatively) short expositions.

Here is an early 78 rpm recording which became his signature for concluding his performances in virtually every concert in the eastern part of our subcontinent.

Readers who are familiar with Bengali music will recognize this tune as the folk song 'dekhechhi roop-shaagore moner maanush kaancha shona'.

The derivative, a Rabindrasangeet, 'bhenge mor gharer chaabi niye jaabi ke aamaare':

Those who are familiar with Hindi cine-sangeet of the 1970-s, will recognise the tune as the mukhda 'nanha sa panchhi re tu bahot bada pinjaa tera', composed by Bappi Lahiri & sung by Kishore Kumar for Toote Khilone (1978)

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