Rich tributes paid to legendary Assamese artist Purushottam Das at glittering function

By Prantik Deka
The 106th birth anniversary of legendary Assamese musician Purushottam Das was recently observed in a glittering function organised by the Amguri Puberun Cultural Organisation of Sivasagar district and Sangeet Khanikor Purushottam Das Smriti Raksha Samiti, Guwahati, in collaboration with the Directorate of Cultural Affairs, Government of Assam, at the premises of Amguri Auniatia Hemchandra Dev Higher Secondary School.
The function started off with the lighting of the traditional lamp by the principal of the school, Amarjyoti Borthakur, who delivered a brief speech. The state's eminent music director and composer Ramen Choudhury, who is an adviser of the Smriti Raksha Samiti, laid a wreath at the portrait of Purushottam Das.
After this, the adviser of Smriti Raksha Samiti–Ramen Choudhury, President Kumar Deepak Das, Executive President Abani Ranjan Pathak, Cultural Secretary Bipul Baruah, Cultural President Dimbeswar Das, Sangeet Khanikor Purushottam Das Smriti Raksha Samiti awardee for 2023 – Umananda Dowerah, editors Kripamoy Das and Kabin Das, treasurer Biswajit Ojah, Dhritishree Devi, Jogesh Kishor Phukan, Prashant Sharma among other guests were invited upon the stage by Indra Kamal Phukan, the President of Puberun Cultural Organisation, in addition to being felicitated by the members of the organisation. Kabin Das, one of the editors of the Samiti, explained the purpose of organising this event, which was presided over by Kumar Deepak Das, President of Smriti Raksha Samiti, former Rajya Sabha MP, and well-known singer.
Noted theatre artiste and director Prashant Sharma spoke about various aspects of Purushottam Das' life in his speech as the chief guest. Ramen Choudhury, who was a one-time colleague of Purushottam Das, recalled the rich legacy of Purushottam Das, in his key-note speech.
Executive President of Smriti Raksha Samiti, former Director of Guwahati Akashvani Kendra, one-time colleague of Purushottam Das, Abani Ranjan Pathak, retired music composer of Akashvani Guwahati Center and Cultural Secretary of Smriti Raksha Samiti Bipul Baruah, and lyricist, well-known singer and retired Deputy Director, Directorate of Cultural Affairs, Dimbeswar Das recounted their intimate moments with Purushottam Das, whose unique creations have enriched the cultural sphere of Assam.
The cultural evening got going with with a chorus performance by a group of artistes from Amguri Nabin Library, based on a composition by Purushottam Das, followed by renditions of Purushottam Das' timeless creations by Bipul Baruah, Jibeswar Das, Pranati Baruah, Dhritishree Devi, Kabin Das, Kumar Deepak Das and Umananda Dowerah.
On the occasion, an audio-visual song composed by Purushottam Das, rendered by Kabin Das and Dhritishree Devi, was released by Jogesh Kishor Phukan, a noted writer and resident of Amguri.
The highlight of the evening, however, was the presentation of the Sangeet Khanikor Purushottam Das Smriti Raksha Samiti Award for the year 2023 to Umananda Dowerah, the renowned archivist of Assam's musical heritage. Dowerah's own museum – Umananda Gramophone Record Museum and Research Centre, located at his residence in Moran, houses more than 5000 records that include the original voices of Jyotiprasad Agarwala, Bishnu Prasad Rabha, Phani Sarma, Anandiram Das, and many other iconic figures of Assam, besides the original record of the first Assamese song "Phulu Phulile Jonaye Hahile'', recorded in the voice of singer, composer and stage actor Prafulla Chandra Barooah in 1924, as well as Lakshminath Bezbaroa's "O Mur Apunar Desh".
An accomplished music teacher and artiste, Dowerah has been painstakingly collecting old and rare records for several decades now, which are carefully documented and preserved in a scientifically protective environment. He also owns a number of gramophone record players of various shapes and forms. Dowerah was honoured by the Smriti Raksha Samiti members with a phulam gamosa, a cheleng chador, sarai, cash prize, memento and a certificate.
It may be recalled that the Sangeet Khanikor Purushottam Das Smriti Raksha Samiti Award was previously presented to renowned music director Ramen Barua in 2021, and eminent musician Ramen Choudhury in 2022. On the occasion, Umananda Dowerah enthralled the audience by playing several old records that he had preserved on the hand-cranked gramophone player.
The function, anchored by actor and treasurer Biswajit Ojah, concluded with a speech by Kumar Deepak Das. The vote of thanks was offered by Kripamoy Das.

Comments

India’s climate tech ecosystem in dire need of both early, growth-stage funding: Report

By Our Representative India’s climate tech ecosystem, which boasts over 800 startups, is in dire need of both early and growth-stage funding to leverage its full potential, according to a report by Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (Ventures) and MUFG Bank , Japan. Despite a robust initial funding landscape, with approximately two-thirds of climate tech startups receiving seed capital, growth-stage investments remain critically lacking.

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded reaction in the form of a link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah* The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual.

Bayer's business model: 'Monopoly control over chemicals, seeds'

By Bharat Dogra* The Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) has rendered a great public service by very recently publishing a report titled ‘Bayer’s Toxic Trails’ which reveals how the German agrochemical giant Bayer has been lobbying hard to promote glyphosate and GMOs, or trying to “capture public policy to pursue its private interests.” This report, written by Joao Camargo and Hans Van Scharen, follows Bayer’s toxic trail as “it maintains monopolistic control of the seed and pesticides markets, fights off regulatory challenges to its toxic products, tries to limit legal liability, and exercises political influence.”

105,000 sign protest petition, allege Nestlé’s 'double standard' over added sugar in baby food

By Kritischer Konsum* 105,000 people have signed a petition calling on Nestlé to stop adding sugar to its baby food products marketed in lower-income countries. It was handed over today at the multinational’s headquarters in Vevey, where the NGOs Public Eye, IBFAN and EKO dumped the symbolic equivalent of 10 million sugar cubes, representing the added sugar consumed each day by babies fed with Cerelac cereals. In Switzerland, such products are sold with no added sugar. The leading baby food corporation must put an end to this harmful double standard.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

UNEP report on how climate crisis is impacting displacement, global conflicts, declining health

By Shankar Sharma* A recent report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), titled "A Global Foresight Report on Planetary Health and Human Wellbeing," warrants urgent attention from our country’s developmental perspective. The findings, detailed in the report, should be a source of significant concern not only globally but especially for our nation, which has a vast population and limited natural resources.

Industries fueling climate crisis draining public funds in Global South: ActionAid

By Our Representative A new ActionAid report has exposed the alarming financial drain on the Global South, as climate-wrecking industries like fossil fuels and industrial agriculture receive over US$600 billion annually in public subsidies. The report, "How the Finance Flows: Corporate Capture of Public Finance Fuelling the Climate Crisis in the Global South", reveals that an average of US$677 billion in public finance is directed toward climate-destructive sectors each year, depriving crucial social sectors such as education.

75 years of revolution: How China moved away from ideals of struggle for human liberation

By Harsh Thakor* On October 1st, we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Chinese Revolution, a pivotal moment in the struggle for human liberation. From 1949 to 1976, China achieved remarkable social equality and revolutionary democracy, outpacing other developing nations in literacy, health care, agricultural output, and industrial production.

Search This Blog