Composer, poet, lyricist, arranger and one of the most versatile and extraordinary talents of modern Indian music, Salil Chowdhury was born on this day. His compositions introduced a thrilling new sound to Indian music as well as a vision of a world free of social injustice.
Chowdhury grew up in Assam. He played the flute extremely well from childhood, but he also played numerous other instruments.
In his 20s, he joined the IPTA (Indian People’s Theatre Association), one of the most significant cultural movements in India, in which the participants were Left-leaning. He wrote many songs for IPTA, which are still celebrated.
From the 50s he began to compose music for the Hindi film industry.
Bimal Roy’s Do Bigha Zameen was based on a short story by him. Chowdhury also composed music for the film.
He introduced elements of western music deftly to Indian songs. He was most popular for composing music for Hindi, Bengali and Malayalam songs, but his versatility allowed him to set to tune songs in several other Indian languages. His lyrics were often moving, striking in their imagery and deeply questioning of the world around him, and he used the woman’s voice in a very special way.
His music continues to captivate us with its melody and its joy.
