Silchar, Cachar, Assam. 1 October 2007. Farijuddin

1. bhabchhilam ki oi hale din jabe

Artist:
Farijuddin
Composer:
Bhabananda
Form:
Murshidi
Song region:
Cachar, Assam

We met Farijuddin in the second phase of our IFA-supported project, when we had started to return to the field for purposes of dissemination. Pradip Kumar Pal, our friend and guide in Silchar, organised a session of music in his home. He is a baker by trade, but also an amateur sound recordist (he considers Sukanta his guru in the business) and he has set up a recording studio in his house to record, among other people, rare artists and forms of the Cachar region. He himself is pretty knowledegable about many of these forms and can beautifully sing samples  song . Farijuddin is one of Pradip Pal’s favourite singers.

Farijuddin singing, recording session at Pradip Pal’s place

Farijuddin plays the soraj (a version of the dotara with resonance strings) with a unique style. The sound of his instrument brings to mind Dhirajuddin Fakir in the opening sequence of Ghatak’s Titash Ekti Nodir Naam, it is a rare sound which we have not had from any other place.
Here is an article in Bangla by Pradip Pal about Farijuddin published in a local newspaper of Silchar.

Written in 2011.