Dr. Mafruha Hossain: Woman of many talents

We all look at the rainbow and wonder how it has seven colours blended into the same being. Poet Nazrul Islam aspired to filter out one colour and offer red colour to decorate the feet of his beloved. (Rang dhanu hote lal rong chani… Alta porabo pay). In actual life, if we can shine with one hue or even two, we feel lucky. Unknown to the common eye, sometimes, some flowers bloom and they carry many colours, which put together could make the rainbow. Mafruha Hossain (Senjuti) is one of them.  

My introduction to her came through a thesis prepared for PhD by Mafruha Sejuti which was to be considered for publication by the Nazrul Institute. I was the external reviewer. As I leafed through the pages, I started marvelling at each new chapter. What usually is a boring and tedious task to find applicants filling out their pages with quotes from secondary sources of information and cutting and pasting them with their own comments here and there wasn't the case for this one. The topic of this thesis was the 'Use of folklore in the songs of Kazi Nazrul Islam.' The thesis comprises of various sections including explanation of folklore, its synonymous expression in Bangla literature, and relevance to various genre of songs by the National Poet. Obviously, folk songs by all lyricists embody the folklore, and it wasn't an exception here as well. However, the detailed study of other genre of songs (lyrics) which contain the life and lifestyles of the people got me very much interested in both the subject and the author. For example, in the songs of the genre called 'kheyal' we find Kazi Nazrul Islam writing the song (as illustrated by Dr. Hossain), "Esho priyo aro kache". Dr. Hossain maintains that the literary meaning of this song centres on 'love' and as `love' is the centre of all creative urges, it means that folklore is also embedded in this song. In my opinion, this is a very sophisticated comment and an indication of a mature and learned mind. In fact, all throughout  the thesis, the author has drawn analogies from various parts of India, when and where Ustad Amir Khusro introduced the form of 'kheyal', how Nazrul's raga based songs follow their lyrical pattern, but differ in singing style, how the fast "taan's" are omitted from Nazrul 's kheyals and many such minute details which lends support to the fact that the author has produced a well-researched paper which not only sheds light on Nazrul Islam's use of folklore in the songs of various oeuvre  ,but also their original histories and their similarity/difference with some regional songs of the greater India,  of which Nazrul Islam was  a part.

Studying the thesis has provided me with intricate knowledge of differences between songs called 'Hori' related to the festival of colours between Radha and Krishna, as well as 'Rasiya' songs which are similar in theme to the Hori and are written on the love and manifestations of love between Radha and Krishna, sometimes involving other deities from the Hindu religion. Descriptions of usage of folklore in leto songs, Islamic songs, Eid –related songs, Zakat related songs, songs of inspiration, ragas created by the poet himself all embody the folk culture and brings the poet close to the common people.

In this connection, I looked at the CV of Dr. Hossain, Associate Professor, Music Department, Rajshahi University, and that is when I noted what she had achieved and how she had managed to filter several colours from the rainbow. Born to Professor Altaf Hossain and Mrs Fatema Hossain, who worked for BTV, she was trained in music from her early years. She completed courses in Abbasuddin Academy, BAFA (In Tagore songs), Nazrul Porishod. She performed in BTV shows like 'Notun Kuri', 'Esho gan shikhi', 'Amrao pari', and 'Bhora Nodir Bake'. She has released her first album titled "Pother porichoy", and also directed some stage dramas, and TV dramas.

She has seven books (In Bangla, mainly on the works of Kazi Nazrul Islam) and from time to time, she has published in various scholarly journals and was awarded the Nazrul Award 2014, by the Cultural Ministry of Bangladesh as well as Nazrul Shongeet Shilpi Porishod.

Almost seven colours complete, Nazrul would have said, "Amar ganer shat shure diya, tomar bashor rochibo he priya".Hail Mafruha for bringing the beauty of folklore of Nazrul to us commoners.

The writer is an academic, Nazrul exponent and writer