‘Artist with compassion for those in need’

Zubeen Garg was a game changer in my life and career. It was he who was behind my career as a journalist and as a music producer, and finally, with that credential, I joined politics.

It was around 1998 when I met Zubeen. He was the person who saw something different in me, and that’s why he recommended my name to be the first editor-in-chief of the widely circulated entertainment Assamese magazine ‘Maya’. That is how my career began as a journalist.

Thereafter, I became a close associate of his. I was his cultural show curator and event manager. I used to organise his events and conceptualise his albums. We worked on cinema together as well. I was the associate director of his first movie ‘Tumi Mur Mathu Mur’ in 2000. We collaborated in the realm of art and culture. It was he who made me a producer. Zubeen lent his voice to my musical albums. His contribution to my life is immense.

We were actually friends since our college days. We have been friends for the last 35 odd years. I have no words to express my sorrow at his demise. It is beyond my imagination that he is no more. For over three decades, he contributed enormously to the Assamese music and film industry. He was a complete musician like RD Burman or AR Rehman.

He was a package of lyricist, composer, singer, music arranger, sound engineer, instrumentalist, actor, director, producer, as well as a sports lover. He was very sharp technically and musically. He was a philanthropist in letter and spirit. He used to spend his earnings on those in need, and marginal sections of society. He performed in countless music shows and lent his voice to thousands of songs and also looked out for those in need. This was another side of Zubeen that we should always appreciate and honour.

He had dominance over modern songs as well as folk music. He was the only musician who sang in all languages and dialects of the northeast. Another interesting fact about Zubeen is that he sang in all genres — from folk music to rock music. Zubeen popularised Bihu songs, Tukari geet (a kind of folk song here), Kamurpi Lokageet, Goalporia Lokageet, and many more.

He was one of the contributors to popularising our folk and traditional songs. Not just contemporary or modern music, he dominated every genre.

(The author, Pabitra Margherita, is the minister of state for external affairs)