Early life Kabir Suman

1 life

1.1 childhood & family
1.2 youth
1.3 rethinking bengali songs

early life
childhood & family

kabir suman @ childhood

suman born in bengali hindu brahmin family on 16 march 1950 sudhindranath , uma chattopadhyay @ cuttack, odisha. started training in classical music @ young age, under tutelage of father. although learned rabindrasangeet , khayal since childhood, father did not want suman take professional singing believed masses never respect professional singer. parents professional singers, , had recorded number of gramophone records. accomplished radio artists.

late sudhindranath chattopadhay generous listener of indian arists ustad amir khan, pandit nikhil banerjee, ustad bismillah khan, dilip kumar roy, jnan prakash ghosh, sachin dev burman, salil chowdhury, nachiketa ghosh, hemanta mukherjee, pannalal bhattacharya , pankaj mullick, foreign compositions of mozart, beethoven, paul robeson, beatles , elvis presley, enriched suman s childhood. suman says have never been able become musician, had not listened these records since childhood.

sudhindranath got opportunity study music under rabindranath tagore in youth although not possible him afford costs due financial constraints.

at young age, suman accompanied father shantiniketan got opportunity observe reel real tape recording, , met kanika banerjee, rabindrasangeet maestro.

suman’s elder brother anandarup chatterjee accomplished singer , harmonica player though never took singing professional ly.

when suman young, pandit girin chakrabarty had suggested mother teach him sarod, although idea never materialised. radio played important role in life @ time. started playing harmonium , harmonica around 1960s. short period, played taishōgoto.

suman s first public performance wa in 1958, child singer, father accompanied him harmonium. in same year performed @ revered shishumahal auditorium.

around 1959, learned opera music under guidance of father pinto, man responsible popularising opera music in india. sang in radio program under direction of renowned composer pankaj kumar mallik well.

acharya kalipada das & chinmoy lahiri taught him khayal. suman idolised sukumar ray , abanindranath tagore , influenced language form , rhythm.

suman added tune poem of rabindranath tagore, when fourteen. first musical creatiom.

along continuous learning of indian classical music, listened western singers pat boone, jim reeves, nat king cole, nina & frederick, kingston trio , frank sinatra.

he inspired ustad amir khan. suman auditioned akashbani singer , received ‘b-high’ grade in rabindrasangeet , modern music and‘b’ grade in nazrulgeeti akashbani @ tender age of 16.

youth

when seventeen, started adding tune lyrics , poems. graduated honours in english literature jadavpur university , did diploma in french language , german language. read modern bengali poems, written hungry generation english poems. highly inspired works od samar sen, subhash mukhopadhyay , t. s. eliot.

rethinking bengali songs

around 1968, while learning himangshu datta compositions, felt in spite of compositional strength, did not represent contemporary times, lyrically.

he observed language , thinking of modern poems, story, novel, essay, journalism, drama, cinema , magazine have started changing, not bengali music.

at time political environment of west bengal started changing. turbulent times in bengal. naxalbari movement gaining strength. emergency imposed indira gandhi. kolkata witnessed daily bombings, arrests of common people , police atrocities on involved in naxal movement. vietnam war, mao zedong, ho chi minh , che guevara became icons of bengali youth, did not reflect in contemporary bengali songs. felt not satisfied music sang because songs did not represent time. felt had write own songs if had sing. gave learning under kalipada das. resigned akashbani, stopped recording inreco , decided focus on writing own songs.