Language has never been a barrier for good music. When something inspires you enough to smile, forget your worries and be lost to the world, it usually does not have specific words attached to it.
The saying holds true for me each time I listen to an Anupam Roy track. You may or may not know bengali, the main language in which he spins his magic, and even if you do, you may not always understand all of it. But that cannot stop you from enjoying his compositions.
I have been listening to his music for a long long time now, in fact, from the first time his song 'Amake Amar Moto Thaktey Dao' hit the bengali movie industry and raised the bar for everyone else forever. I of course did not know about it as soon as it was released. In fact, I got to hear it from a friend who happened to share the song with me, because he knew it would hit a cord somewhere. My friend thought the atmosphere created through the song, the settings, the scenario and the music, would be a perfect reflection of what I was going through then, and even though I was not sure at first, he made me listen to the track.
What happened after that....everyone knows....kind of.
There has been no looking back since and can never be....I have embraced his songs in a way that has made me give up my listening time for any other song, I rarely listen to other songs now. My friends who knew me from my youngest and young days are surprised at the change. I for one have never in my life heard or known a Bengali song. I know no Rabindra Sangeet, and the 3 or 4 I have heard have been modern variations, which I heard, liked and moved on. Did not stay with me.
I have never ever watched Bengali movies in my life...Ever....And I still barely do. But if it is one that features an Anupam Roy track or music, you bet I will watch it, whether or not the movie is at par with its music or not. I have suffered this movie watching trauma in the past, where I have watched certain Bengali movies only because Anupam Roy was associated with them. There were a couple that were real torture, but I watched, still....
If you have heard his music, Anupam Roy has only sung in Bengali, but a few here and there episodes of Hindi are also there...case in point the song 'Jani Dekha Hobe' with the famous haunting rendition of 'Jo wada kiya wo nibhana parega.' I can never have enough of it. As for his English engagement, listen to the track Second Sex that he released virtually on YouTube. It's outstanding. I have heard a few more English renditions by Anupam Roy that are not really 'released' - mainly on certain interviews and such. You wouldn't know it was him if you didn't see him singing them!
That said, I am not able to understand all his lyrics, and sooo many times I make a complete dumbo of myself when I confidently sing his songs, and am made to realise by other bong speakers that what I am singing makes no sense as they are all wrong words. But hey, do you see the smile on my face as I sing that song? Do you see the way I lose myself and am gone to the world? Do you see the space I enter and how it makes me forget anything that is worrisome, and all it leaves behind for me is happiness and hope and that feeling of love...do you see any of that?
If you do see any of that, you will see that language actually is no barrier...As long as it makes you smile and want to be happy and face the world with a brand new 'you' the language can't really make a difference...
Thank you....all over again....Anupam Roy...
- Debolina Raja Gupta
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