Interview:
Khaled Hossain Remembers the Poet
 
Courtesy: New Age [BD: May 27, 2005]
http://www.newagebd.com/2005/may/27/arts.html

When we talk about poet Nazrul Islam’s music and songs in Bangladesh, Khaled Hossain’s name is one of the foremost that comes to our mind. He has been involved with the radio and television of Bangladesh as a Nazrul Sangeet artiste and then as a director for about five decades. He has been relentlessly working with institutions like the Nazrul Academy, Nazrul Institute, Hindol and other government organisations, as an instructor of Nazrul Geeti in its original version, with accurate musical notations. His records of Nazrul Geeti has been recorded by HMV in India and Dhaka Record in Dhaka. At present he is the Head of the Department of Nazrul Sangeet and Vice-Principal in the Government Musical College. NS Nisha talks to the veteran artiste during the celebration of Nazrul Jayanti

Tell us something about Nazrul as a writer and a musician.

At a very young age Nazrul used to write and compose songs for a group called Leto. He took training in music from Ustad Kader Baksh, Ustad Monju Shaheb, Ustad Zamiruddin Khan and Mastan Gama in India. However he started composing songs much earlier. His compositions were spontaneous. It is said that often he sat with various artistes with a harmonium composing different songs  simultaneously. He was the composer for HMV. He recorded songs with Columbia, HMV, Twin and Senola. Nazrul had a very powerful, husky but melodious voice.

He wrote 37 types of songs. Though widely known as a rebellious poet, Nazrul was versatile. He even composed about twenty raags with beautiful names like Dolonchapa, Nirjhorini. His secularism and his wish to unite people are evident from his Hamd and Nath as well as Kirtan and Shyamasangeet. He had the same honour for all religions in his heart.

Nazrul has written a large number of humorous songs, but many young learners of Nazrul Sangeet are oblivious of this.

Why are Nazrul’s light, humorous songs hardly practiced?

Generally the audiences who come to the musical soirees of Nazrul Geeti are in a grave mood; they prefer something serious, classic. The artistes not trying to disappoint the listeners choose the most popular numbers and the melodious ones that establish their powerful grasp over the notes and gayki of the songs. The culture of the Nazrul Geeti programmes that has developed over the years is that everyone is prepared for something romantic or the kind.

Nazrul’s amusing songs are satirical, often providing an insight into the society of his era, sometimes making fun of individuals who are excessively class-conscious. You need a different mood for this. In a quintessential Nazrul Geeti programme the rendering of a comic song will seem very sudden and abrupt and its impact futile. When I had presented humorous songs in a couple of occasions on TV, I realised that they were suitable for only specific and carefully planned events, because of their atypical composition.

And for that very reason, I these songs are becoming archaic. Many young learners are not even aware of this particular genre. Teachers at the music institutes are not very keen to teach these songs to the students and sometimes even if they do the students don’t seem very enthusiastic. So the shortcoming is from both sides. It is the responsibility of the teacher to make the students take interest and learn different types of compositions.

Singing the satirical songs is very tough. You need a real performer to articulate the context of the song vividly and depict the characters by stressing at words where necessary as well as bringing the correct facial expressions. The artiste has to be a good entertainer to capture the essence of the songs. The bottom-line is the songs have to be more widely performed to prevent them from falling into oblivion.

Did Nazrul compose all the songs he had written?

Almost all. Nazrul’s close companions included Komol Das Gupto, Subol Das Gupto, Durga Sen, Monoronjon Sen Gupto, and Anil Bagchi. For instance, when Nazrul finished writing a song, one of his associates would express the desire to compose that song. Since Nazrul was a generous person, he didn’t mind and readily agreed. So a number of his songs had been composed by his friends. But those are considered as Nazrul’s composition since they had been recorded after the poet had modified or revised the tunes. After Nazrul was incapacitated by his neurological illness in 1942, individuals with very little knowledge about his work made alterations and recorded his songs. The musical notations of these songs can definitely not be regarded as original. We consider only those compositions as Nazrul’s which the poet had revised before he had seriously fallen ill.

Is it true that Nazrul’s original work had been distorted? How were his songs assembled and compiled?

Yes Nazrul’s musical creations had suffered blasphemous deviations. The compiling process has been very complex. Nazrul had written between 4000-and 4500 songs in his short writing career of twenty-twenty two years. Nazrul’s nonchalance had turned out to be the greatest enemy of his creation. Often artistes came and requested him to write and compose a couple of new songs that they wished to perform in programmes. He gave songs to them very casually. This led to the lack of copyright over several of his songs. When his comrades informed that some group of people were presenting the songs in public claiming them as their own creation, instead of getting annoyed Nazrul used to burst into laughter and say, ‘If a bucket of water is taken from a sea, does the sea become empty?’

It is clear that Nazrul was a real bohemian. And after he lost his speech and memory at the age of 42 it became more difficult to regulate his work.

Tagore had made it much easier for coming generations as he compiled 2200 songs in the Gitabitan and their sworolipi (musical notation) in Shorobitan. Nazrul had unfortunately done nothing of the kind. About 888 to 1000 of his songs had been published in his book of verses but more than 3000 were not preserved in any form of printing. He recorded almost all of his songs by artistes such as Indubala, Angurbala, Komolajoria but at that time the name of the lyricist and music composer were not written on the records. After the era of these artistes the records went out of market. Even if many records were recovered from private collections, name of the writer and composer were missing. Later a man in Calcutta named Abdul Aziz published a book from his Haraf Prakashani containing 2300 songs of Nazrul that he had been able to collect. Publishing these songs was not useful until the correct musical notations were discovered. Calcutta hadn’t taken effective steps to preserve the songs. Many swarolipis had been printed but most of them had been distorted. Ninety per cent of the songs that are now being recorded are not original compositions and the artistes have made alterations according to their desire. This phenomenon does not commonly prevail in Bangladesh because there is seldom any recording of Nazrul’s songs here.

Distortion of or deviation from the work of these classic writers and composers are not at all acceptable. Everyone doesn’t necessarily have to love Tagore, Nazrul or Dijendra Lal but they have the right to know who they are. Whether the altered compositions are good or bad, that is not the question. Their work portray the distinct characteristics of these great composers. We have no right to exploit them by adding our own touch to adapt them for the modern society.

Isn’t there any committee that ensures that the original musical notations are strictly maintained whenever Nazrul’s songs are recorded? Has Bangladesh taken any steps to preserve Nazrul’s songs in their deserved state?

Nazrul Academy took an initiative in 1968-69 to authenticate Nazrul Sangeet notations. The government established Nazrul Institute for the purpose of preserving his songs. More than 1000 old gramophone records containing half of Nazrul’s complete work had been extracted from various places. There is a board for swaralipi restoration process of which I am a member. But you see people are not accustomed to the idea of swaralipis. Some dedicated students will use them but not the common mass. They will go to the shops to purchase records. How will they know which cassettes or CDs contain the original versions? What Nazrul Institute could have done is rapidly produce records by learned artistes of Nazrul Geeti. But here another obstacle is most recording companies do not want to sponsor recording of Nazrul’s songs; they opt for popular modern songs. On the other hand Calcutta is injecting a large quantity of Nazrul Sangeet cassettes that arrive in Bangladesh. Two to four cassettes released each year by our country can’t compete with about 50 Nazrul Sangeet cassettes released from India. What I think can be done is to collect master copies from old recording companies, dynamically produce a large number of records with the original version, involving few instruments to cut down the cost. The government should allocate some funds for recording endeavours. Besides like the Biswa Bharati committee that guards and protects Tagore’s work, a board should be set up to preserve Nazrul’s songs too.

Did you have any encounter with the poet directly?

During my childhood in Calcutta the poet used to live in my vicinity but at that time I was unaware of his fame as I was very small. I met the poet in person frequently when he was brought in Dhaka. But unfortunately he was already suffering from his long ailment. Many aspiring artistes sang to the poet his songs sitting by his side. I was one of them. The poet couldn’t speak. But his eyes had some kind of expression. He was very good-looking.

How keen are the young learners of Nazrul Geeti?

It is a wrong impression when people say the current generation is not eager. They are talented and they are interested. They have to be guided properly by the teachers to practice original notations. A strong background in classical music is recommended. They have to be inspired to bear the torches successfully. Creations of such great poets will never seem antiquated to people even after centuries. 

Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain
Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain
Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain
Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain
Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain Khaled Hossain