In '99, still in college, I first heard the Jazz rendition of the Rabindra-sangeet Na chahile jare pawa jay from our favourite Maqsoodul Haque. Till then, Mac was known to us via Feedback, who just rocked in early '90s by their romance and frustration. Then suddenly I hit Mac o dHAKA's version (Mac was kind enough to send me a link). It was named "Rabindranath 2010". (At that time I wasn't educated too much on Copyright laws, learned later that copyright of Rabindranath Tagore's work should have been ended in 1991 but extended by 10 years, so actually Mac's work done in 1999 was a violation of copyright in India but anyways) But hey, copyright aside, an artist should have full freedom to experiment. That time I remember of the controversy the song generated (in Bangladesh and Kolkata too). More than the asthetics of the song, what impressed me is the guts of Mac. With purists breathing on shoulder, he went ahead to create his own version. From the title of the song it looked like Maq envisioned by 2010, people will start doing bold experiments. Alas, just like Moheener Ghoraguli, it was 20 years too early. And I still do not see such experiments happening. There are a few people in Bengali music today, but I am not sure what stops them from making radical moves.
It is 2010 already. If not now, when?
It is 2010 already. If not now, when?