On 21 October 2006, this year’s Diwali day, enthusiastic music lovers from Assam, led by Mrs Rini Kakati organised a musical evening at Wembley in London to commemorate the death anniversary of Jayanta Hazarika. He was our dear Rana Bhaity who passed away at the age of 34 on 15 October 1977. Jayanta’s wife Manisha, son Mayukh and daughter in-law Lailee were invited for this occasion and had come all the way from Assam . The function started with a solemn emotional speech by Rini Kakati recalling her association with Rana in earlier days when he was an up and coming singer. Manisha Hazarika (Mithu) paid her tribute by offering a white flower on his photograph because white was his favourite colour. She described her life with him, his commitment and dedication to music and his desire to serve the society through his “xurabahini”, the army of musicians.
To pay a tribute to a loved one is always painful when feelings of nostalgia and memories make one emotional. In a family of 10 siblings, Rana Bhaity was the 9th in line. He was born in Mangaldoi. As a young man he was a rebel, angry and shy at the same time but very determined to achieve his goal to be a musician. At times this led to feelings of frustration. He showed his first signs of musical talent by playing a mouth organ without any formal teaching.
In the late fifties, when Bhupenda returned from USA, he recognised Rana Bhaity’s talents and took him under his wing. Later he accompanied Bhupenda with his harmonium, guitar or accordion which he could play with equal dexterity. He also played with many renowned singers like Hemanta Kumar, Salil Choudhury, Shyamal Mitra and travelled to Berlin to sing on the same stage with Bhupenda, Mirium Makeba of South Africa and others in an International Youth Festival. Rana Bhaity also accompanied our sister Queen (Sudaksina Sharma) to the Radio station in Guwahati. He was very close to his two elder sisters Rose and Ruby, now Kavita Baruah and Stuty Patel, respectively. The caring and loving relationship between the sisters and a brother lasted right to the end.
The young and shy Rana later grew up to be a caring, decent human being full of wit and humour, confident, meticulous in his choice of clothes but remained humble, polite and courteous to his elders. He grew up to be a well known musician, music director of films and theatre, and a documentary maker. At this time I was thousands of miles away from home in Africa. As a result, his pursuit of musical career and his contribution to the evolution of modern Assamese music remained anecdotal and second-hand to me. Now I have to piece together his times as a teenager and his youth from various writings, journals and other sources. I now know our younger brother Rana Bhaity became a bohemian minstrel and a legendary trailblazer in creating unusual music. His wife, Mithu gave him full support and followed him like his shadow in pursuit of his chosen path of creating meaningful music.
On a fateful day on 17 October 1977, very unexpectedly his life was cut short and he died suddenly. The curtain had abruptly dropped on the stage for the final time ending his performance on this earth, leaving behind his widow, a young son, his brothers and sisters and fans all over the country in shock. Every year, on this day we remember his sudden loss and miss his beautiful music and songs. While commemorating his death with pleasant reminiscences of his past, we also rejoice in the presence of Jayanta’s legacy in Raja (Mayukh) his son, Raja’s lovely talented wife Lailee and his devoted mother Mithu (Manisha) to preserve, revive and spread his music in the national and international arena.
None of the Hazarika siblings were formally trained in music. However, equipped with a harmonium, a guitar or an accordion, Rana was able to create a tune and a vision from lyrics to compose a new song. In Rana’s case, poet Nirmalprova provided that poetry of lyrical quality to combine with Rana’s moods to weave through musical notes to create a memorable song sung with emotive sincerity. In some of his compositions, there are hints of extreme pain of a tormented soul. His tunes had a combination of traditional as well as Western notes which were sung in his own indomitable sonorous voice with a clear distinct diction of a musical brilliance!
Our Rana Bhaity, Jayanta Hazarika, the bohemian minstrel is no more with us but we will always remember him through his music.
May God bless him and let his departed soul REST IN PEACE
Contributed by Prabin Hazarika Leicester, UK
[Prabin Hazarika is an older brother of Jayanta Hazarika. - Editor]
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