A tribute to folk legend Kalika da

From Lalon to Shitalong, from Dhamail to Bihu - Kalikaprasad Bhattacharjee captured each and every nuance of rich Bengali folk music in a style and manner that few could do, further enshrining homegrown culture in northeastern parts of India as well as Bangladesh. 

Kalikaprasad, fondly known in musical fraternity as Kalika da, met a tragic end in a road accident in West Bengal's Hooghly on Tuesday. Kalika's untimely demise cast a pall of gloom in the cultural circuits of India and Bangladesh.     

If not for anything else Kalika's legacy would be long cherished for the contributions he made to bring the rich tradition of Bengali folks and heritage of musical mysticism to the fore, popularising it among the new generation, mainstreaming oft-forgotten and long lost musical forms, otherwise popular among the downtrodden, tea workers, peasants, labourers, indigenous communities and industrial workers.   

By forming a hugely popular Bengali musical band - Dohar - back in 1999, Kalika initiated a new journey to the path of experimentation. He experimented and excelled in the use of varied traditional yet less used musical instruments. Kalika and his band mates recorded many musical numbers, rich in lyrics and tunes but long been neglected as music of yesteryears or as music of economically backward rural communities of the northeast. 

Born in Assam's Silchar in Cachar district on September 11 in 1971, Kalika had a great admiration for the rich musical heritage of greater Sylhet region. Kalika introduced traditional Assamese tunes to modern urban Indian listeners and in the same fashion he picked up from the treasure troves of all the great Sylheti bards - Hason Raja, Radharaman Dutta, Shitalong Shah Fakir, Arkum Shah, and Shah Abdul Karim. And the great thing about Kalikaprasad is he sang at same ease music from different genres - from Tagore to folk, from Assamese Bihu to Sylheti Dhamail.   

Folk songs associated with Rongali Bihu, the Assamese New Year celebration, are called Bihu-geet or Bihu songs. Dhamail is practiced in Bangladesh's Sylhet and in areas influenced by the Sylheti culture such as Cachar, parts of Shillong, Karimganj and Hailakandi districts of Assam, and also parts of Tripura in India.

In this age when youths are losing interest in this ancient dance form that comes along with the Dhamail style of musical rendition, it was Kalika and his band Dohar who took it upon them to pass on the rich heritage to the next generation.    

Kalika turned Dohar as a platform for cultural activists, who consider this world as a musical bonanza and intends to energise its inhabitants with the melodious power of folk tunes. 

The genres of folk songs Dohar performs (as many as 35 folk forms) include, among others, Baul, Bhatiyali, Bhawaiya, Chatka, Jhumur, Saarigaan, Jaari gaan, Gaajan/Charak, Dhamail, Bihu etc. They employed over 25 different kinds of ethnic instruments.

Under Kalika da's tutelage Dohar also presented Tagore songs accompanied with various ethnic folk instruments like Dubki, Dotara, Banjo, Flute, Shinga, Mandira, Kashi, Kortal, Sarinda and percussions. 

Bangladesh and more precisely the northeastern part - the greater Sylhet region - had a permanent place in the heart of this great folk legend - Kalika da. He had a yearning for rich culture, heritage and tradition of this part of Bengal (now Bangladesh). 

Kalika had great admiration for all the big names in the Baul and folk genres in Sylhet and beyond in Bangladesh. While reflecting on a song of separation by the legendary Hemanga Biswas, Kalika once expressed a deep sense of void and empathy that the division of geographical Bengal cost the richness of cultural Bengal. He related his experience of becoming uprooted in the song that evokes the pain and isolation of the uprooted in an alien country with the partition of Bengal in 1947. Hemanga Biswas, known for his advocacy for peoples' music, hailed from greater Sylhet. 

Kalika researched on folk music and archived traditional folk numbers from various parts of Assam, Bengal and Bangladesh. He made several stage appearances and performed for different TV channels in Bangladesh. He had also lent his voice in films like Jaatishwar (2014), Moner Manush (2010) and Bhuban Majhi (2017). Kalika is survived by his wife, a daughter and a host of admirers  worldwide.

The writer is the Assignment Editor of The Daily Star.