Bihu king returns with songs from rural Assam

Khagen and Archana Mahanta sing women’s husori in their new album Senehir Bihuwan

A STAFF REPORTER

Khagen and Archana Mahanta during a performance in Nagaon. Picture by Eastern Projections Guwahati, Dec. 15: Assam’s undisputed king of Bihu, Khagen Mahanta, is back and this time with a rustic flavour. Mahanta, who has cut a Bihu album after several years, has brought out from obscurity “women’s husori”, a very old form of Bihu performance by women’s groups in villages in Upper Assam. Known as a stickler for pure Bihu lyrics — in contrast to the modern versions — Mahanta said he decided to make the new album “only after digging out a few original and uncommon songs from the villages of Upper Assam”. This is the first time that a “women husori” has been incorporated in a music album. Mahanta, considered next only to Bhupen Hazarika, is credited with bringing Bihu songs to the stage in the seventies in their purest form and has striven to keep tradition intact. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 1992. In the new album, Senehir Bihuwan, which was released a few days ago, Mahanta has sung with his singer-wife Archana Mahanta after nearly five years. Mahanta said, “Bihu songs are the backbone of our culture and cultural identity. They should be historically and characteristically Asomiya in content. The purity of tradition, music, metre with their perfectness in movement should be maintained at all costs.” Traditional Bihu songs, which are essentially very rustic, are handed down by word of mouth over generations though present day singers prefer modern lyrics set to Bihu tunes. Mahanta said he had specifically requested singer-director Probin Saikia to collect “some original lyrics”. Saikia, also known as the guru of folk music, had previously made a few albums of Bihu songs with Khagen and Archana Mahanta, including the popular Bihuwan, Bohona, and Nahorkoli. Saikia said along with the Mahantas, Rasmirekha Saikia, Dristisikha Barua, Baba Konwar, Pankaj Bora, Ajut Bora and Priti Bora have also sung in the new album. Khagen Mahanta, born to a family of satradhikars (head of Vaishnavite monasteries), was influenced from an early age by another doyen of Assamese folk music, Rudra Barua. A song, Kolore patate kawri pore, set to tune by Barua, had launches Mahanta on the road to success. As a young singer in 1959, Mahanta had participated in an All-India Inter-University Youth Festival in Mysore and bagged the first prize for playing the khol, a traditional musical instrument.