The Unsung Stallions

Back in 2006, when Gangster was released, almost the entire nation swore by the musical genius of Pritam Chakraborty. If Ya Ali introduced an obscure but talented Zubeen Garg, then James (who sang Bheegi Bheegi Si) changed the quintessential indifferent attitude of Indians towards Bangladeshis. Seemingly everything was going well, until a little piece of news marred all the merry-making. Pritam had allegedly lifted the music of a Bangla-band called Mohiner Ghoraguli (Mohin’s Horses). Well, that was just the beginning of Pritam’s illustrious music-lifting career, but then it’s a different story all together and much written about at the same time.

 It can’t be said for sure how many people searched the net for Mohiner Ghoraguli, but I think quite a few of them did, being intrigued by the name of the band. With due respect to the intellect and ‘general knowledge’ of the North Indians, most of them know nothing aboutBengal except Roshogolla (horribly pronounced by north Indians when they try to fake the Bengali accent with a pinch of mockery), and Mishti Doi (Sweet Curd - No argument here as it’s all the same everywhere). There are a few more – Bengali men are all duffers with oily hair, wearing dhoti, who are extremely bad in speaking Hindi (as if all Hindi-speaking men can speak proper Bengali!), and are famous throughout the nation as ‘mama’s boys’ and ‘hen-pecked husbands’. Considering these stereotypes, I guess it would be too much of a thing to gulp down if I say that India’s first-ever rock band was formed in this place. Yes, it’s Mohiner Ghoraguli – which shone and blazed away like a meteorite.

 

During the 70s, music was everything that came out of Bollywood. Bengal itself was suffering from stagnation in music. At that point of time Gautam Chattopadhyay gave a serious jolt to the listeners with his powerful lyrics, which were about the everyday Indian - Politics, love, hope, loneliness, Kolkata. Very trivial subjects, but fiercely real. They broke the conventions by introducing instruments like piano and violin in their music, which was a rare combination of Baul and Western Classical compositions.  

But probably people were not yet ready to accept such radical experiments. The group produced their first 3 vinyl records borrowing money from their family and kabulliwaalahs. Their combination of everyday life, angst, disillusionment, pangs of frustration was a far-cry from the regular filmy songs. They ended up with no takers. Result – the group was dissolved in 1981. I remember listening to their Prithibita Naki Chhoto Hote Hote (The World is Getting Smaller Every Day) which sings of the growing urban alienation because of TV and cable network.

But, I don’t mean to write the story of the rise fall of the band. I’m not even trying to pull these guys out of obscurity (They don’t give a damn about it and they are happy being known to their kind of audience). It’s just that I felt like talking about them out of the frustration I feel when I see people yelling their lungs out in the name of rock music. Not to mention the inane lyrics (not all of them). It’s a fact that we never had any band as such in India. Everything musically creative is expected out of the films and the albums released by playback singers. Moreover, our ignorance of other regional languages is one of the reasons why Mohiner Ghoraguli failed to get public attention. One can hear some of the songs on youtube, but can’t enjoy the story crafted by the lyrics. And translations don’t retain the beauty of the original compositions.

 But mostly I meant to rectify the common notion about the Bengalis – They are in no way just out and out bumbling idiots. At least, not all of them are. I guess every community has its own share of duffers. So Bengal is not just about ‘sweet and fish’ eating people, termagant mothers who make ‘chickens’ out of their sons, and vociferous leaders who are obsessed with everything ‘red’. Bengal has something more to offer – India’s first ever Rock band.

The band reunited after 25-years in 1997 and performed in Bangalore. This was probably their first performance outside West Bengal.

Comments

[Anant Singh]

the unsung stallions? please! couldn't you think of a more cheesy title for this post?