Confluence of Music and Literature: A Study of Bhupen Hazarika’s Songs

Abstract

Bhupen Hazarika’s songs have travelled beyond literacy, class, caste, culture, geography and time. This paper argues that his songs are both a musical and literary achievement. Music is the art of combining sounds to create meaningful expressions of emotion: it may consist of vocal sounds, instrumental sounds, or a combination of both. A vocal song is a specific type of music that needs words. If a versatile singer writes the lyrics for his songs himself, has the talent to set fitting tunes to them, to compose the appropriate music for them, is a genuine poet, a voracious reader of serious literature, conversant with the poetic traditions, has extraordinary command over the language in which he or she writes, has the empathy for the sufferings of his people, he or she has a great opportunity to imbue his or her lyrics with deep philosophies of life, rhythm, and energy which can be felt even on paper without musical accompaniment. In that case, his or her lyrics may be read as serious poetry, and his or her songs may become both a musical and literary achievement. Bhupen Hazarika is a glaring example in this regard. What sets him apart is not the fact that he wrote the lyrics for his songs himself, set tunes to them, composed the music, and sang them; but that he was extraordinary in all of these roles. In this paper, I have regarded him as a singer par excellence, an exceptional music composer, and a serious poet through his lyrics. His lyrics hold their own as serious poetry, standing on words alone, on the page. The medium of literature is language, and poetry is its oldest branch.