Gautam Chatterjee
Encyclopedia
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n musician, singer, and one of the founding members and inspirational leader of the band Moheener Ghoraguli
Moheener Ghoraguli
Moheener Ghoraguli or Mohiner Ghoraguli was a Bengali independent music group from Kolkata, established in 1975, it was arguably Bengal's and India's first band...
, which was formed in the 1975, arguably Bengal's and India's first band . He was also a theatre person, filmmaker and ethnographer.
He played many Indian and western instruments with flair.During his college days He used to play the saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
and especially lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
in a band called The Urge, whose members were mostly Anglo Indians, in pubs like Trinca's and Moulin Rouge on the famous Park Street of Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
during the 60s.
Presidency College
Presidency College could refer to the following Indian institutions:* Presidency College, Chennai* Presidency College, Kolkata*Presidency College, Bangalore...
in Kolkata, he was sucked into the political movement of the late 60s and early 70s in Bengali campuses also known as the Naxal Movement
Naxalite
The word Naxal, Naxalite or Naksalvadi is a generic term used to refer to various militant Communist groups operating in different parts of India under different organizational envelopes...
.He wandered around India . But he continued composing music even during this phase of his life and was just biding his time to get back to the city he so much loved - Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
.
After he came back to Kolkata, he formed a band called Saptarshi with his brothers Pradip Chattopadhyay
Pradip Chatterjee
Pradip Chatterjee is a founder member of the Bengali band Moheener Ghoraguli. He is the younger brother of Gautam Chatterjee.. He was also a theatre person, filmmaker and ethnographer.Also known as Bula, Pradip is a flutist and vocalist.-Career:...
, Biswanath (or Bishu) Chattopadhyay, first cousin Ranjon Ghoshal
Ranjon Ghoshal
Ranjon Ghoshal is a founder member of the Bangla band 'Moheener Ghoraguli', and runs an advertising agency, "Mareech Advertising" in Banglore, apart from "Forum Tree", a theatre group....
, Biswanath's friend Abraham Mazumder, and family friends Tapesh Bandopadhyay and Tapash Das. Later they went on to christen themselves as Moheener Ghoraguli
Moheener Ghoraguli
Moheener Ghoraguli or Mohiner Ghoraguli was a Bengali independent music group from Kolkata, established in 1975, it was arguably Bengal's and India's first band...
and made music as was unheard of in Bengal at that time.He worked with the 'Bauls'Fakirs creating a new genre of music-'Baul-Jazz' It was a mixture of Baul
Baul
Baul .Though Bauls comprise only a small fraction of the Bengali population, their influence on the culture of Bengal is considerable. In 2005, the Baul tradition was included in the list of "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by UNESCO.-Etymology:The origin of the word...
and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
.
The band came with new energy, sound, stagecraft, and dress code, jolting Bengalis. Chattopadhyay introduced new lyrics and musical instruments like the guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
and drum set. He made Bengalis aware that any song can be sung accompanied by just the guitar.
Moheener Ghoraguli wasn't commercially successful, and disintegrated in 1981, but it inspired a whole generation of Bengali youth.During the mid-nineties, he revived Mohiner Ghoraguli by releasing the albums:
Abar bachhor kuri pore (1995)
Jhara shomoyer gaan(1996)
Maya(1997)
Khepar gaan(1998)
with fresh voices, his own compositions as well as songs composed by others By the time Gautam returned with the reincarnation of Moheener Ghoraguli in the 90s, he became an icon.
After the disintegration of the band Goutam continued his musical journey alone, composing new songs,composing music for his own films and working as music directorfor other film-makers too.
He made films like Nagmoti (which won the President's Medal at the National Film Awards in 1983). His second feature film was Somoy (which was never released) A Letter to Mom, an English film on the life of the anglo Indian community.
His first documentary was about the dhaki
Dhaki
Dhakis are traditional drummers who play the dhak during Hindu festivals, primarily in Bengal. Drum beats are an integral part of the five-day long annual festivities associated with Durga Puja but dhakis are losing out to pre-recorded CDs and cassettes.-The players:Dhakis perform mostly in...
s (drummers) of Bengal called The Primal Call 'After that he made several documentaries on subjects as varied as 'The Dinosaurs,The sun temple of konarak to Mr Habib Tanvir.
He made a short film for an American community television To Love is to Paint...,
He went to Karbi-Anglong in mid-nineties to work with the Karbi people and their music.
With them he did an opera, on their folklore called"Hai-mu".
Around three hundred karbi youth performed in this opera.People from far and wide came to see the opera, and every one was spell bound.This was his inspiration in making his last feature film(in karbi language) which remained incomplete due to his sudden death in 1999.He returned to Kolkata after completing his shooting on the 19th of June 1999.He died the next morning.