{"id":10439,"date":"2025-12-12T15:27:32","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T09:57:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=10439"},"modified":"2025-12-12T23:42:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T18:12:01","slug":"salil-chowdhury-bengali-songs-reimagined-genre-social-awareness-humanism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/salil-chowdhury-bengali-songs-reimagined-genre-social-awareness-humanism\/","title":{"rendered":"Salil Sangeet: How Salil Chowdhury\u2019s Bengali Songs Reimagined Genre, Social Awareness and Humanism"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Salil

Salil Chowdhury immersed in a book (Pic: Facebook)<\/p><\/div>\n

Rewinding Salil Chowdhury\u2019s Bengali songs each time is not only a musical delight but also a fascinating journey down both the historical and melodious lanes, starting from the pre-independence era of India\u2019s freedom struggle.<\/p>\n

Thus, whenever his signature Bangla songs, especially the mass-awakening ones, spring up in mind, it\u2019s not Salil Chowdhury\u2019s music and lyrics alone; it becomes Salil Darshan<\/em>, or a broader philosophy of life, if I may humbly put it so.<\/p>\n

As music composer Naushad had said, Salil Chowdhury was a communist by ideology and had stuck to its principles. He never compromised with his musical approach. The many-in-one musical vision, where the music of River Indus flowed to join the music of River Rhine, the confluence may be named as Salil Sagar<\/em>. They created tunes, and he created symphonies. Thus, Salilda is a phase of evolution not only for Indian music but for world music as a whole. Only conscious listeners of his Bengali songs, in particular, may define his works as Salil Sangeet<\/em>, much like Rabindra Sangeet or Nazrul Geeti.<\/p>\n

Lataji in one of her interviews had described her favourite composer to be a blend of Amir Khusrau<\/a>, Rabindanath Tagore<\/a> and Kahlil Gibran<\/a>, and that delivering his songs every time was her greatest challenge even after working with 100-odd composers. And that says everything. Salilda was not just another composer in Indian music, but a Renaissance man shaped by the spirit and depth of the Bengali Renaissance itself.<\/p>\n

Salilscape or Salilophile<\/h2>\n

Salilda\u2019s sense of creativity in literature and music emerged very early and dates back to his childhood days in the sylvan tea estates of Assam. His father, Shri Gyanendranath Chowdhury, was posted there as the doctor for the plantation workers. Back then, the tea gardens were a hub for workers from different parts of India, who often performed their own characteristic folk music after a hard day\u2019s work. Salilda\u2019s sense of folk music and love for nature emerged from the music of tea garden labourers. Besides, his patriotic instinct was inspired by his father, a staunch supporter of the Indian freedom struggle and the Non-Cooperation Movement led by Gandhiji.<\/p>\n

Gyanendranath Chowdhury was a connoisseur of Western classical music. The symphonies of Mozart and Beethoven, which he later introduced and blended with folk and classical music during his illustrious career, had run deep in his heart since those tea garden days. His love for theatre also originated with his father, who dared to organise the subjugated workers under British colonial rule to stage plays on the tea gardens’ campuses. Also, his love for literature and other forms of Bangla songs grew under his mother, who was an avid reader of Bangla books and a passionate listener of Bangla songs.<\/p>\n

\"A

A young Salil Chowdhury<\/p><\/div>\n

Following his migration to Kolkata for high school and college, Salilda was fortunate to be nurtured by his elder cousin, Shri Nikhil Chowdhury, who was an accomplished musician, playing orchestra music in the background of silent movies back then. It is from here that Salilda learnt to play musical instruments (the flute being his favourite) and accompanied his cousin\u2019s orchestra, Milan Parishad<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Salilda then moved to his maternal uncle\u2019s place in Subhasgram, South 24 Parganas, rural Bengal, while pursuing his college degree at Bangabasi College, Kolkata. The ambience of rural Bengal had a deep impact on Salilda\u2019s creative genius. It is from here that he became deeply involved in the peasant movements of stormy Bengal under British imperialism. His first Bangla song was composed during this time in support of the farmers\u2019 agitation against floods and the subsequent destruction of their crops, their hard labour wasted. Besides, his musical concept evolved while watching rural operas and listening to the rural music of the peasant land.<\/p>\n

His introduction to the Communist Party occurred in college, and his natural patriotic instinct took a clear socio-political form. By this time, the radical theatre movement IPTA also took shape, and Salilda became an activist of it in 1944, penning and composing Bangla songs in support of the radical movement, which included peers like Balraj Sahni<\/a>, Shambhu Mitra, Debabrata Biswas, Hemanga Biswas, and Suchitra Mitra, to name a few.<\/p>\n

In Salilda\u2019s words, the National Conferences of the Indian People\u2019s Theatre Association were his university of music learning, as he got introduced to the mass songs nationwide. By the time he left for Mumbai, Salilda was an accomplished lyricist, arranger, and composer whose vision was to create genres crossing all boundaries. No wonder his popular song for Bimal Roy\u2019s Do Bigha Zamin<\/em> in the form of Hariyali sawan dhol bajata aaya<\/em> was set to the tune of one of his earlier IPTA songs composed to foster the peasant movement.<\/p>\n

Salil Chowdhury was a dedicated student of creative arts, not for entertainment alone. His sense of music was different from that of his peers. He wrote poetry, plays, and short stories based on the socio-political content of his stormy times, and his compositions, too, were a deconstruction and reconstruction of conventional musical forms such as Rabindra Sangeet, Indian classical music, and Kirtan genres. He was a step ahead of the rest in creating symphonies and blending folk music from different corners of the world.<\/p>\n

His Bollywood chapter was significant for his collaboration with the noted Goan arranger Sebastian D\u2019Souza<\/a>, from whom he gained newer insights for his subsequent compositions. Salilda was born and shaped in stormy times and further evolved in his journeys in commercial Bollywood music.<\/p>\n

A comprehensive understanding of his Bangla<\/em> songs can only be reached if one gets to understand the entire Salilscape.<\/p>\n

Having said this, his Bangla songs can be classified into two groups: the pre-Bollywood chapter or songs of his stormy times in association with mass movements, and basic or film songs composed after he migrated to the Hindi film industry.<\/p>\n

\"Salil

With the harmonium<\/p><\/div>\n

Songs of the Stormy Times<\/h2>\n

O Alor Pothojatri<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Written and composed in 1949, just two years after Indian independence, and titled as Ghum Bhangar Gaan<\/em> (Song of Awakening), Salilda gives a clarion call for comprehensive freedom in all respects. A verse of illusion and disillusionment, Salilda composed the song on a slow rhythm to start with, painting the illusion of freedom with metaphoric expressions depicting that the struggle for true independence is not over yet, and one needs to march miles ahead to achieve the same, just like rowing a boat ahead from a desolate island to the point of the lagoon.<\/p>\n

The meter changes abruptly, the rhythm becomes fast with the lines Ahobhan shono ahobhan<\/em>. Salilda uses his signature choral scores, in fact overlapping choruses, to evoke deep patriotic instincts and match up with the articulate lines Jatra shuru uuchhol durbar bege totinil<\/em> (the independence rally has begun and marches ahead like a river in full flow). A timeless masterpiece that is still being played in many mass gatherings, illustrating the eternity of his creative genius.<\/p>\n

Here is to the song and Salilda\u2019s narration of its socio political context.<\/p>\n

O Alor Pothojatri<\/strong><\/em> (Non-film<\/em>, 1949) Montoo Ghosh \/ Calcutta Youth Choir, Sabita Chowdhury<\/span><\/p>\n