THE FORMATIVE YEARS OF SACHIN DEV BURMAN :"SUUN MERAY BANDHU RE , SUUN MERAY MITWAA "

                                                               

"SUUN MERAY BANDHU RE , SUUN MERAY MITWAA "

THE FORMATIVE YEARS OF SACHIN DEV BURMAN 

Sachin Dev Burman was himself a perfect classical singer . Who can forget “Meri Duniya hai Maa Tere Aanchal mein”,“ Sun Mere Bandhu Re “ ,“ Allah Megh de Paani de “ , “ wahaan kaun hai Tera ” , “ O Maajhi Re ” and some other songs that he sang ? But the melodious songs that he composed for films are endless and dipped in the Amrita of immortality . For this reason, he shall always remain unforgetable .Sachin Dev had the capacity to present Ragas through Folk music and folk music through Ragas ..

Not many of us know that Sachin Dev Burman ( 1906-1975 ) was the grandson of Chandravanshi Kshatriya king Raja IshanChandra Dev Burman (1850-1862 ) of Tripura . His father, Nabdwip Chandra was a poet , painter and a sculptor . Apart from this , Nabdwip Chandra had sound background of classical music. Sachin Dev's mother was a well known Manipuri dancer . Prince Nabdwip encouraged singing and it was said that everyone in Tripura’s Royal family was a singer . Sachin Dev had immersed himself in music from his childhood . Two servants were kept for his care . Anwar and Madhab . But he engaged both of them for work relating to his music only. Together they would move with , Fishermen , Baul singers ,Batiyali singers , Vaishnava Mendicants,farmers , shephards and other village singing troupes , singing and dancing with them and learning their Music. He would smoke from their Hookaah . This is how Sachin Dev collected a treasure of Folk Tunes . later he learnt Dhrupad and Khayal from Shyamcharan Datta . He learnt Thumri from Amiya Nath sanyal . He also learnt from Well known Vocalist Ustad Badal Khan . He learnt Rabindra sangeet from Himangshu Datta and Banarasi style of Thumri from Shyam lal kshetriya . 

Many of his top film songs have strains of Rabindra sangeet .He also learnt Dhapkirtan , a variety of devotional singing with slow dance movements . Sachin Dev was a Dhrupad singer also . 

After completing his BA from comilla ( Now Bangla Desh ), he moved to Calcutta where his Life changed all together . He loved the city and its deep cultural roots. He loved Football and happened to be a Diehard supporter of East Bengal Team. If this team lost , Sachin Dev would weep and stop eating food for a couple of days. In Calcutta , he also gave music tuitions and learnt from various masters who had settled in the city . For Work, He reluctantly moved to Mumbai and stayed in a hotel for a longtime instead of setting up a house .The reason for this was that he wanted enough time to practice his music .

About Sachin Dev Burman , Manna Dey once wrote 

"I was at Satinath Mukherjee's south Calcutta residence in 1966 during Durga Puja. It was Panchami. Satinath used to organize musical ashors at his residence, in which he, his wife Utpala, Salil Chowdhury, Hemanta Mukhopadhyay and Shyamal Mitra would all be present and we would sing through the night. That evening in 1966, both Satinath and Utpala were disturbed. Dada Burman had promised to come but had not yet turned up. It was around 10 pm when the doorbell rang. Someone inquired in a bold nasal voice, 'Satinath, aaso naki?' Utpala, I and Satinath ran down to the door, and there he was. Dada Burman in his regal dhoti and panjabi. Utpala asked, 'Why so late, Dada?' He smiled and said, 'Flight late korse re'. That evening, I rendered Tumi aaj deko na, Shyamal sang Ja ja re ja, ja pakhi, Utpala sang Kingshuk phul hingshuk bhari. But the king was Dada, who sang Tak dhum tak dhum baje, as Radhakanta Nandi played the tabla. We understood that there can be another Manna Dey, but not a second SD Burman."

                                                                      

                                             

                                                          ( With his wife  Meera )

            

                                                     ( With his Son R D Burman )

Well known Saxaphone ,Western Key flute and clarinet player Manohari Singh, who had a long association with Sachin Dev Burman once said ,

"Burmanda was heavily inspired by folk music and nature; though he also showed keenness to give new colors to his nature-inspired music. Once, he was so impressed with the natural Cotton making sound that he insisted that the same sound be used in one his songs."

About his folk music dada once told his interviewer Shankerlal Bhatacharjee as under ''

" I do my best to give folk it’s due. Besides I make use of folk in songs that are romantic, tender and susceptible to a refined serenity. Actually the basic virtue of folk music --- its tendency to mingle joy and sorrow in the same tone – makes it an asset par excellence to a composer. I don’t know how much I owe to folk music for my achievements as a composer.It is the Bhatiali aspect of the music that means something special to me. But then, you can never quite leave out one for the other. The Baul ang also has serious appeal. If you talk of shades then you may quite reasonably reach out for many different ‘angs’ or aspects within our folk music tradition.

Bhatiali of a particular area has it’s local gift and colours. Bhatiali is also the song of the rivers. The sound patterns of Bhatiali, its colour contrasts, its pathos and it’s mirth reminds you of the rivers of Bengal as many of the poems of Tagore do. Besides all these Bhatiali is also about love whether of the common peasants or of Radha and Krishna. Thus it’s mood can vary from light romanticisms to philosophic melancholy."

( Autar Mota 30.06.2014 )

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