How to Pronounce Gautam Chattopadhyay
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Jun 01, 1948 Died on 20 Jun 1999 (aged 51)
Bengali singer, songwriter, bassist, and composer.
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About Gautam Chattopadhyay
- Gautam Chattopadhyay (1 June 1948 – 20 June 1999) was an Indian Bengali singer, songwriter, bassist, and composer.
- In 1975, as a leader he co-founded the progressive rock band Moheener Ghoraguli with songwriter Tapas Das, pianist Abraham Mazumdar, bassist Pradip Chatterjee, lyricist Ranjon Ghoshal, drummer Biswanath Bishu Chattopadhyay and guitarist, Tapesh Bandopadhyay.
- He was also a theatre person, filmmaker and ethnographer. He played many Indian and Western instruments.
- During his college years he played lead guitar in a band called The Urge, whose members were mostly Anglo Indians, in pubs including Trincas and Moulin Rouge at Park Street of Kolkata during the 1960s. While a student at the Presidency College in Kolkata, he participated in the political movement of the late 60s and early 70s in Bengali campuses known as the Naxal Movement.
- He then moved to Jabalpur, working for about a year as a Medical representative in Jabalpur and then in Bhopal.
- He continued composing music during this phase of his life. Chattopadhyay returned to Kolkata, and formed a band called Saptarshi with his brothers Pradip Chattopadhyay, Biswanath (or Bishu) Chattopadhyay, first cousin Ranjon Ghoshal, Biswanath's friend Abraham Mazumder, and family friends Tapesh Bandopadhyay and Tapash Das.
- Later they called themselves Moheener Ghoraguli.
- He worked with the 'Bauls'Fakirs creating a new genre of music-'Baul-Jazz' It was a mixture of Baul and jazz.
- Chattopadhyay introduced new lyrics and the guitar, saxophone and drum set. Moheener Ghoraguli wasn't commercially successful at the time, and the band disintegrated in 1981.
- During the mid-nineties, Chattopadhyay revived Mohiner Ghoraguli by releasing the albums: Abar bachhor kuri pore (1995), Jhara shomoyer gaan (1996), Maya (1997), Khepar gaan(1998).
- He included new singers, his own compositions as well as songs composed by others.Later, Chattopadhyay continued a solo career, composing new songs,composing music for his own films and working as music director for other film-makers.
- His films include 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 dhakis (drummers) of Bengal called The Primal Call.
- After that he made several documentaries, including '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..., Chattopadhyay 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" About three hundred karbi youth performed in this opera.
- He then began to make a film in karbi language, which remained incomplete due to his sudden death in 1999.
