Performing live from the stages of London, Paris, and Tokyo - Bengali folk music Queen, bubbly Momtaz Begum, has mesmerized her audience from the get-go for almost over two decades now. Within a few years - Momtaz has evolved from a plain country singer adored for her baul and paalagaan, to a superstar of folk music. Momtaz remains authentic in all genres of music - folk, baul, pala and lokgeeti.
Here on the home front, wearing her glittery saris and heaps of gold jewelry, she performed at the ICC World Twenty20 opening concert in Dhaka, under a tent in a mufaswal town, or a Baishakhi Utshab at Ramna Park.
Momtaz had remained undaunted while singing live in the National Parliament on June 14, 2014. While she sang glorifying Sheikh Hasina, all the Parliament members cheered her on by tapping their fingers on the table - while PM looked on with an amusing smile as she sat there.
Momtaz continues to dazzle and captivate her fans. Like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, her music enchants people, and they follow this enchantress everywhere she goes, flocking to listen to her. Through her intoxicating songs, she has captured the imagination of the listeners. In part because of the uniqueness of her lyrics, her music has a universal charm. Momtaz Begum's music transcends time and place.
Young and old alike long for her music; her audience ranges from topi-wearing bearded grandfathers and toothless grandmothers, to ten-year-old boys and girls. While on the world stage, her admirers are of a slightly different variety - energetic youth, posh city women, and probashis from diverse ethnicities - dancing away to her music in frenzy.
Music is an internal thing in our minds, an abstract idea. For each one of us, music's primary effect is an emotional experience. Music opens up our imagination like a blank canvas to paint on. Whether we are listening to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, or a folk song sung by Momtaz Begum - music is a different process for each one of us, with a different appeal for each listener.
Replaying a song can mean replaying an experience in the head. When we play a song or accidentally stumble upon one, that particular song can immediately link up with the memories that we once had, or places that we have been to. It can lighten our hearts like nothing else can.
Last week, I found an old CD of Pratima Banerjee. Those songs over time had been forgotten. As soon as the melody of the first note of mone agun jole chokhe keno jolena...chokhete shagor aache agun je shoi dhorena came on, it immediately took me back to a lazy autumn afternoon of my youth.
Memories came rushing back in huge tidal waves. I could clearly recall that girl in uniform returning home from school and going into the drawing room. There I dropped down on the floor in front of my Barda's Radiogram that had a fine furniture cabinet with a rich mahogany finish. There I played the Pratima record. After all these years I remembered the feeling of losing myself in her music. Such is the power of music.
Listening to the folk songs of Momtaz Begum in recent weeks has infused in me a fresh energy, a feeling that her music is pure and absolute perfection. We come away with the feeling that for our spiritual fulfilment, we all need to experience love. Her folk songs tell us a universal story - we all ache for love and a magical connection with a special person. I also find her music to be a form of total cultural immersion. Many details went into the creation of her songs, and those songs resonate with us. With the ensemble playing in the background in orchestral unison, her songs touch my emotions as I play them over and over.
Her folk songs are manifestations of love, longing, romance, heartbreak, and betrayal. Her super hit song, Khairun lo tor lomba mathar kesh… chirol daater hashi diya pagol korli desh - is mainly a celebration of the ideas of love and beauty. The power of love is amplified in this particular song. The first musical theme is focused on the epitome of feminine beauty - a woman with long hair, kajol rimmed almond-eyes, and a gorgeous smile.
In this particular song Momtaz is first appealing to the masses, creating an alluring Bengali girl with a flawless figure. But Khairun is not exactly a real person, and is more a personification of love and longing. She is the embodiment of a persona, a goddess that everyone desires, and the symbol of a fantasy woman that every man pines for. In these lyrics, she encourages her audience to go after their dream of finding the perfect person. These themes are contagious.
When I watched the video of the actual song, the invocation of the village scene came alive. The video adds to the ambience and the quintessential idea that love and longing dwell in the muddy patched huts of rural Bangladesh. At the same time, the same idea finds its place in the hearts of the city dwellers as well.
Her music connects us as a group into a close-knit community of listeners of music. Even in solitude when I listen to this particular song, I feel that I am interacting with other people. The rhythm, the melody, and the harmony provide me an escape deep into myself, and I feel the music in my soul. When the song accelerates and the beats get faster - it evokes the intensity of a multitude of emotions.
Momtaz and her band work together in perfect synchronization, as she takes the lead. Her voice is the most powerful element of this extremely romantic and hopeful song, complemented by her gestures and shoulder moves. Momtaz is also communicating her emotions with her audience, so the scenes from the song can be easily imagined without seeing the video.
The song is comprised of the sound of the flute, tabla, dhol, guitar, drums, keyboard and the saxophone, all mimicking the earrings, glass bangles, and the jingles of the ghungroo bells that Khairun is wearing. The entire song is full of rhythm to evoke the image of this girl walking. In the video, we see Khairun paying homage to village life by wearing lots of jewels: so too does Momtaz, performing the song on stage.
The band also works to bring alive this rural girl, this idea of Khairun, helping us become further immersed in the rustic scenes. The bansuri flute is a very powerful part of the song. The flute player seems to be both playful and melancholy at the same time. He even seems a little flirtatious as he opens the song. As soon as the flute plays its first melodic note, we know that it is going to be a joyful song with a slight touch of wistfulness.
As Momtaz sings the first line with her ensemble, we can picture this long haired Khairun - an exotic creature, with fuler mala around her neck, and with her decorative kolshi walking towards the river bank. The lyrics and the sounds bring up a perfectly orchestrated image of a girl with a dazzling smile. The girl is full of joy and innocence. The dhuli in the song is lost in the beat and the music. As the song progresses with more intensity, we see the dhuli spinning around as it represents the idea of becoming pagol, since love is like madness. As the song becomes more forceful, it mimics that process.
The ensemble of this powerful song is secondary to the exceptional presentation of Momtaz. She has control of the stage. The instrumentalists are merely supporting her to make the scene livelier and more vivid. She is just rock-solid and flawless here, constantly happy and joyful in delivering a celebratory song.
I am sure Momtaz will keep on entertaining us with her awesome stage presence and powerful lyrics in the years to come. For her contribution to the enhancement of Bengali folk music, we salute the one and only Momtaz Begum - as the darling daughter of Bengal.
The writer is a freelancer. Email: zeenat.khan1983@gmail.com
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