Bhupen Hazarika

Dr. Bhupen Hazarika (8 September 1926 – 5 November 2011) was an Indian playback singer, lyricist, musician, poet and filmmaker from Assam, widely known as Xudha kontho (सुधाकण्ठ, meaning cuckoo, literally “nectar-throated”). His songs, written and sung mainly in the Assamese language by himself, are marked by humanity and universal brotherhood and have been translated and sung in many languages, most notably in Bengali and Hindi. His songs, based on the themes of communal amity, universal justice and empathy, are especially popular among the people of Assam (India), West Bengal and Bangladesh. He is also acknowledged to have introduced the culture and folk music of Assam and Northeast India to Hindi cinema at the national level. He received the National Film Award for Best Music Direction in 1975, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1987), Padmashri (1977), and Padmabhushan (2001), Dada Saheb Phalke Award (1992), the highest award for cinema in India and Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship (2008), the highest award of the Sangeet Natak Akademi. He was posthumously awarded both the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian award, in 2012, and the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, in 2019. Hazarika also held the position of the Chairman of the Sangeet Natak Akademi from December 1998 to December 2003.