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Friday, April 28, 2006

Bengali Songs

Singer Suman (Chatterjee/Kobir) was a fresh air in early '90s in urban Bengal. Here are two translations of his lyrics (translator - Sudipto Chatterjee).

#1

Where Morning, at the cross roads,
Via Afternoon, into Evening corrodes--
Where City, just across a by-lane at the border,
Assumes the evening suburban order--
Where Evening, in search of Nocturne
Upon Chronos' prod, decides to sojourn--
Where the Stars, at the sky's borderline,
Turn into a silent harmony unconfined--
Where Sky, in an envelope of watery Cloud,
Sends you a letter with Rain's shroud--
In the flood of your tears, where Rain
Tells stories of someone else's pain--

That's where on my own
I shall meet with you alone.

#2

Familiar sorrow, familiar happiness
That all too familiar smiling face
Familiar dark and familiar light.
Familiar grounds, your familiar block
On a familiar road the door you knock
Familiar cries in a familiar night.
Familiar lips and familiar eyes
Familiar groups of neighborhood boys
The familiar gang where the roads meet.
Familiar roads in smithereens
Familiar houses, familiar greens
The familiar jungle made of concrete.
Familiar buses, familiar circuits
Familiar bread, familiar biscuits.
The all too familiar tea-glasses.
Familiar cigarettes that you puff
Walks down a familiar turf
Familiar images--dream-corpses.
Familiar anger, familiar rages
All too familiar vengeful revenges
Familiar knife and vindication.
Familiar disdain, abomination
Familiar shame--this our nation
Familiar fears, unknown reconciliation.

Song of the day - the Immigrant (Nitin Sawhney)

7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

wow. i am listening to anjan dutta *right now* -- and as i put the disk on half an hour ago i was hoping someone somewhere has tried to translate him. do you know of any? suman was the intro, the guy who defined the genre, but imho anjan is the one who who touches brilliance -- lyrically as well as musically.

9:10 PM  
Blogger D said...

@TR - somehow I don't feel much interested in Anjan after his first two albums..but few songs were real smart! There is one other (Mousumk Bhowmik) singer who I feel is real brilliant, do try her songs...

9:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

thanks for the tip -- i'll check it out as soon as i can. it's unfortunate that anjan dutta doesn't cut it for you. which albums have you tried? (he does have some clunkers.) i was played shunte ki chao by a friend and just one listen got me hooked.

8:24 AM  
Blogger D said...

Well that was his freshman effort, I liked the album and also the second one...then he really became monotonous..:(

2:46 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i loved the lyrics of the first poem/song. simply beautiful. and i enjoyed the song, thank you.

3:58 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree with TR on Anjan Dutta. he touches somewhere others can't

And thanks for this post, Gift

12:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Suman was the pathbreaker. Anjan Dutta was just there at the right time and place. Has a nice singer-songwriter voice but I have to agree wuth giftofwings.. pretty much had nothing to offer after 1st and perhaps the 2nd album.

2:57 PM  

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