Assam offers musical tribute to ‘Rana da’ on 75th birth anniversary

Assam remembers one of its most illustrious sons, Jayanta Hazarika, on his 75^th birth anniversary on Thursday.

Jayanta, Hazarika, the youngest brother of music maestro Bhupen Hazarika, was born on this day in the year 1943.

Rana- da, as he was popularly known, started his musical career accompanying his legendary elder brother and later made his name as a singer and composer on his own right.

Jayanta Hazarika was the first Assamese composer to fuse Western musical forms such as rock and roll, jazz and Western Classical with traditional Assamese melodies and created a new wave of music.

He was a pioneer in introducing several Western instruments in his compositions.

In his short 34 years life span he created many legendary songs that are still widely popular today in Assam.

Jayanta Hazarika passed away on October 17, 1977 in Kolkata (then Calcutta) where he was busy recording songs for a new movie ‘Natun Asha’.

Jayanta Hazarika began his stint in Assam by assisting his brother Bhupen Hazarika as music director for the film ‘Maniram Dewan‘.

Then onwards he continued singing and worked as music director for several films.

Jayanta Hazarika was a seasoned player of several musical instruments. He played guitar, domra, mandolin, accordion, tabla, and harmonica.

He used to collect various traditional musical instruments from other parts of the world. He could play the harmonium in two different octaves simultaneously.

In 1977, Jayanta Hazarika formed a path-breaking institution named Xur Bahini. This was formed with the help of people from Golaghat to help the flood-victims of Assam.

This group used to sing in the streets and collect remunerations which later was donated. Many singers joined Xur Bahini under Jayanta Hazarika’s leadership which was taking shape as a mass movement.

Today on his 75^th birth anniversary, several programmes have been lines up across Assam.

Several singers, musicians and music directors have come together with various programmes on Thursday to pay tribute to one of the greatest musicians this State had produced.