Moheener Ghoraguli

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Moheener Ghoraguli
Moheener Ghoraguli in concert, 1979, left to right: Raja Banerjee, Pradip Chattopadhyay, Tapas Das, Pranab Sengupta, Gautam Chattopadhyay and Ranjon Ghoshal
Moheener Ghoraguli in concert, 1979, left to right: Raja Banerjee, Pradip Chattopadhyay, Tapas Das, Pranab Sengupta, Gautam Chattopadhyay and Ranjon Ghoshal
Background information
Origin Kolkata, India
Genre(s) Bangla folk-rock,
Years active 1976—1981 and 1995—1999
Label(s) Gathani
Hindusthan Records
Bharati Records
Asha Audio
Members
Gautam Chattopadhyay (d. 1999)
Pradip Chattopadhyay
Biswanath Chattopadhyay
Ranjon Ghoshal
Abraham Mazumder
Tapas Das
Tapesh Bandopadhyay
Raja Bandopadhyay

Moheener Ghoraguli or Mohiner Ghoraguli (Bengali: মহীনের ঘোড়াগুলি , translation: Moheen's Horses) was a Bengali music group from Kolkata. It is difficult to classify them into a musical genre, as their music was a mixture of a wide variety of influences, including the Baul and folk traditions of Bangla and rock.

Established in the 1970s during a period of stagnation in Bangla music, when commercial film songs were the dominant market force, the lyrics (and to some extent the compositions) of leader Gautam Chattopadhyay were radically new. They were of a very personal or social nature, similar to the urban folk movement lead by Bob Dylan in the 60s. Though they were almost unknown in their time, in recent years they have undergone a critical re-evaluation much like the Velvet Underground. This can not be understood without a little background on the Jibonmukhi movement.

In the early 90s, Suman Chattopaddhay (now called Kabir Suman) revolutionised Bangla music by writing songs about everyday life, ordinary people and burning social issues. He gave voice to the feelings of a generation and in the process opened the floodgates on a number of artists who tried to emulate Suman. The focus shifted from mellow melodies, recycled lyrics and separate composer-songwriter-performers to strong lyrical content (written by the singer himself) and a fresh sound with significant influences from Western folk and rock (Suman was mentored by Pete Seeger). Bangla music would never be the same again.

This gave rise to a genre of songwriting called Jibonmukhi (About life), a term coined by Nachiketa, the first to follow in Suman's footsteps. It left a profound influence on the Though Suman never accepted the title, he was considered the de-facto pioneer and leader of this new breed of singer-songwriters. It was at this point that some begun to recognise the fact that something similar had been attempted previously by Moheener Ghoraguli. In recognition of this renewed interest, Gautam released a compilation of Mohiner Ghoraguli covers by contemporary artists, Aabaar Bochhor Kuri Pore in 1995. They have since come to be considered an unrecognised pioneers of the jibonmukhi style and ethics, decades ahead of their times.

They are soometimes also credited as the pioneers of the flourishing of Bangla bands in the new millennium. However this is debatable as their songwriting was strongly rooted in Bangla folk and also American urban folk, while modern Bangla bands like Fossils are mostly influenced by the angst of grunge.

Their signature song is Prithibita Naki, a reflection on how television creates urban alienation. It has been covered by many artists.

Contents

[edit] Style

Moheener Ghoraguli (or Mohiner Ghoraguli) was formed by a group of Kolkata musicians led by Gautam Chattopadhyay towards the end of 1974. Initially, they called themselves 'Saptarshi', and after dilly-dallying with various names including 'Teerandaz', 'Nogor Shongkeerton' finally settled on the name 'Moheener Ghoraguli' proposed by Ranjon Ghoshal. The name was borrowed from a poem 'Ghora' by Jibanananda Das. Around the same time, other Bengali bands such as Souls and Feedback were forming across the border in Bangladesh.

The 1970s were not a propitious time for an experimental group like Moheener Ghoraguli. It was the heyday of classic Bengali singers such as Hemanta Mukhopadhyay, Sandhya Mukhopadhyay, Shyamal Mitra, etc - soloists who were responsible for creating the canon of adhunik gaan or 'modern Bengali songs'. These were songs that updated the tradition of Tagore and Nazrul. They were traditional in their instruments and arrangements, and traditional in their themes and lyrics. They often appeared for the first time in the soundtrack of Bengali movies before getting wider release. Indeed, composers like Salil Chowdhury maintained a bank of their compositions, to use when they were requested to score a film. These were usually typical romantic songs, fluffy and unmemorable in their lyrical content. The situation has been compared to the mellow, commercial Tin Pan Alley music in USA that led to the rebellious rock'n'roll movement.

In such a conservative climate, Moheener Ghoraguli, with its unorthodox musical compositions and strange choice of song themes, failed to gain much of a fan base. Its songs dealt with everyday topics -politics, poverty, injustice, revolution, love, loneliness, even begging and prostitution. Gautam Chattopadhyay had strong political beliefs; in common with many intelligent and idealistic young men of his generation, he was involved in socialist/communist politics during the 1960s and 1970s. (According to former bandmate Abraham Mazumdar, Gautam may have been involved in the Naxalite movement as well.[citation needed]) This political outlook was reflected in the musical output of the band.

The type of music that Moheener Ghoraguli pioneered, though debatably, had the seeds of now very popular Jibonmukhi gaan or 'Songs of ordinary life'. Two decades after Moheen, singers like Kabir Suman, Nochiketa and Anjan Dutta took Jibonmukhi gaan to a new level of popularity, but the origins of the genre can be found in the songs of Moheener Ghoraguli.

The band recorded with Western instruments and also experimented in a variety of musical styles, some of which must have jarred with the sensibilities of its audience. Today, these compositions sound quite contemporary, leading many to conclude that Moheener Ghoraguli was indeed ahead of its time. The band freely borrowed elements from baul shongeet, the folk music of rural Bengal . It can therefore lay claim to be the original Bengali folk-rock band. Many bands since Moheen have adopted similar innovations, among them Feedback, Dolchhut and Bangla.

[edit] Later years

The group played together till 1981 and was then dissolved. Its music too was largely forgotten. Then in the mid-1990s, a decade and a half after its dissolution, Gautam Chattopadhyay decided to revive Moheener Ghoraguli. The original members all had professional commitments now, so Gautam decided to put together a new lineup, composed mainly of young musicians.

The first album issued by the new-look Moheener Ghoraguli was a compilation called Abar Bochhor Kuri Porey ("Again, After Twenty Years", a quotation from Jibonanondo Das), released at the Kolkata Book Fair. It included a number of original classics from the 1970s, as well as songs recorded by the new lineup. Although listeners were initially slow to catch on, the album proved to be a hit, and it introduced the band to a new generation of music-lovers. Gautam Chattopadhyay finally saw his music gain the popularity and critical recognition that had eluded his band in the 1970s. Several other successful compilations have followed since the first one. Both in their native West Bengal and in Bangladesh, Moheener Ghoraguli is now a much-admired band.

Gautam's death in 1999 was sudden. After returning from a location shooting of his last film Rong Bin, which was never completed, the next day he went to the Indropuri studio to meet his longtime cinematographer friend and colleague, Vivek Banerjee and there he collapsed and died of a heart attack. An entire generation of budding musicians who had been popularized by Gautam in Kolkata mourned his untimely death and a tribute album "Moni chara shunno laage" (We feel empty without Moni) was released; it should be noted here that Moni was Gautam's nickname.

[edit] Meaning of the band's name

The name of the band itself is a strange one. The literal meaning of Moheen'er Ghora-guli is "Moheen's horses". While this obscure phrase puzzles many of the band's fans, it is actually taken from a poem Ghora ('Horses') by the great modernist Bengali poet Jibanananda Das. The second line of the poem is:

Moheener ghoragulo ghash khae Kartik'er jyotsna'r prantorey

loosely translated as:

"Moheen's horses graze on the horizon, in the Autumn moonlight"

One of the band's most popular songs, Bhalobashi jyotsnae, is a tribute to the natural beauty of the Bengali countryside; the influence of Jibanananda's pastoral poetry is evident throughout the song.

There are other parallels: Jibanananda broke with the literary tradition of his time and introduced modernist themes and diction to Bengali poetry. He is often considered the first Bengali poet to truly break free of Rabindranath's imposing presence. To some extent, Moheener Ghoraguli attempted to do the same for Bengali popular music.

[edit] Band members

Original lineup:

  • Gautam Chattopadhyay (Manik a.k.a. Moni-da to his younger siblings) - voice, lead guitar, saxophone, lyrics
  • Abraham Mazumdar - piano, violin
  • Pradip "Bula" Chattopadhyay - bass guitar, flute
  • Ranjon Ghoshal - lyrics, emcee, visuals, media relations
  • Biswanath "Bishu" Chattopadhyay - drums, bass violin
  • Tapas "Bapi" Das - voice, guitar
  • Tapesh "Bhanu" Bandopadhyay - voice, guitar (till 1978)

Later Members:

  • Raja Banerjee - Guitar (1978 onwards)

After Tapesh Bandopadhyay left the band in 1978, he was replaced by Raja Banerjee. Raja went on to record the third Moheen album Drishyomaan Moheener Ghoraguli with the band and performed in numerous concerts till the band was disbanded.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Original studio albums

The LP cover of Sambigno Paakhikool O Kolkata Bishayak - the band's rare first album
The LP cover of Sambigno Paakhikool O Kolkata Bishayak - the band's rare first album

[edit] Later day albums

These were recorded by other artists, so they are not considered proper Moheener Ghoraguli albums.

N.B. The corresponding English names are literal translations, and not names under which the albums were released.

[edit] Live performances

The original Moheen lineup performed consistently over the period 1976-1981 throughout the city of Kolkata. Some of their notable performances were at:

  • Jogesh Mime Academy (1977)
  • Star Theatre (1978)
  • Max Mueller Bhavan (1979)
  • Rabindra Sadan (1979)
  • St. Paul's Cathedral (1980)
  • Calcutta International Jazz Festival (1980)
  • Calcutta School of Music (1981)

[edit] Tribute concerts

[edit] Covers

Moheener Ghoraguli's music has been covered by a number of Bengali artistes in the 1990s and 2000s, including Chandrabindoo, Bhoomi, Krosswindz, Lakkhichhara and Insomnia. Gaurab Chattopadhyay (Gabbu), son of Gautam, is a catalyst member/drummer of the Kolkata band Lakkhichhara.

In 2006, the original Moheener Ghoraguli song Prithibi ta naki was remade as Bheegi Bheegi by the music-director Pritam Chakrabarty for the Hindi film Gangster which went on to become a chartbuster. The song was sung by Bangladeshi singer James of Nagar Baul fame. Prithibi ta naki was sung by Bonnie who is a founder member of Oikyotaan, a baul fusion band based in Chennai.

[edit] External links

Moheener Ghoraguli
Gautam Chatterjee | Pradip Chatterjee | Ranjon Ghoshal | Bishu Chatterjee | Abraham Mazumdar | Tapas Das | Tapesh Banerjee | Raja Banerjee
Discography
Albums: Shongbigno Pakhikul O Kolkata Bishayak | Ajaana UDonto bostu ba Aw-Oo-Baw | Drishyomaan Moheener Ghoraguli | Aabaar Bochhor Kuri Pore | Jhora Somoyer Gaan | Maya | Khyapar Gaan
Languages