Songs for all seasons
MANJARI SINHA
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In an absorbing evening, Utpala Borah introduced the Capital's audience to various aspects of Bihu music.
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VOICING SPRING: Utpala Borah's lecture-demonstration had the right mix of theory supported by practical prowess.
Celebrating nature, youth and fertility, the Bihu festival is celebrated throughout Assam, irrespective of caste, creed, tribes, language and even religion. Amongst the three Bihu festivals, the Bohag, Kati and Magh, synchronised with the three agricultural phases and celebrated in spring, autumn and winter seasons respectively, the Bohag or Rongali Bihu, celebrated in spring, is the most prominent because it also heralds the Assamese New Year. The Bihu songs and dances are an integral part of Bohag Bihu festivities.
A very informative lecture demonstration on Bihu songs of Assam was delivered by Utpola Borah this past week at the India International Centre in New Delhi.
Utpala holds a doctorate in Hindustani Music with the topic `A Study of Bihu Songs of Assam with special reference to it's musical contents'. The author of "Bihu Festival of Assam - Music Dance and Performance", Utpala has also done an extensive study of Bihu songs from an ethno-musicological perspective. Her in-depth study is not only theoretical, since she has taken advanced training in Hindustani music from Prabha Atre of the Kirana gharana, and Malashri Prasad of the Benares gharana. Therefore, Utpala was able to demonstrate in practical terms the musical aspect of Bihu songs
She started her scholarly deliberation with the historical background of Bihu and related how from its rural setting Bihu was granted royal patronage by the Ahom rulers (1228-1826 A.D.) and given the status of the national festival of Assam. Thus, the festival of Bihu songs and dances began to be staged in Rang-Ghar, the amusement hall for the royal audience, to the joy and delight of royalty, nobility and the common masses.
Lyrics from life
Utpala went on to the contents of the Bihu songs next. Since the Bohag or Rongali Bihu is a spring festival, the songs are full of nature's bounty, the land, the hills and specially the River Brahmaputra. Weaving also gets its due in Bihu songs, since it is a must for every woman to weave beautiful designs of indigenous art in silk and cotton on her loom. The Husori songs that are sung by the Husori - a group of people who begin the Bohag Bihu festivities, are mainly devotional and social in content, traditionally sung from house to house for the welfare of people with blessings for the New Year. The content of the songs reflects contemporary events. Thus, they often include events from colonial rule or the Chinese aggression of 1962. Even the recent violence in Assam has entered these songs lately. In fact, all kinds of human emotions like love, eroticism, separation and union depicting various moods find expression in these songs.
Musically, Bihu songs have a unique tonal structure of melody and rhythm. A couplet of four lines with alternative rhythm, these songs are sung in three, four or five notes sequences, where the third note i.e. Gandhar, is komal or flat. Utpala melodiously demonstrated the Sa Ga (flat) Ma, Sa Ga(flat) Ma Pa, and the next sequence with Komal Nishad that sounded like the raga Dhaani of Hindustani music. She also sang a song that sounded like raga Kafi. Then she went on to five notes patterns that are used in the love songs sung by the Misings, the largest tribal community of Assam.
The musical instruments played with Bihu songs and Husori performances are dhol (drum), mohor xingor pepa (buffalo horn pipe), gogona (Jew's harp), toka (bamboo clapper), xutuli (clay wind instrument, taal (brass cymbal) bahi (bamboo flute) and been (string instruments), etc., that were demonstrated by talented artists like Gajen Borah who played dhol, pepa, gogona and xutuli, Prabhat Baruah (dhol), Chandan Das (toka) with vocal by Paresh Deka and Dmbeshwar Das, who were surprisingly from the 4th Assam Police Battalion, Guwahati. The lecture demonstration concluded with a lively performance of Bihu songs and dance.
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