Zubeen Garg: Assam's musical icon who gave voice to varied genres of songs

Guwahati: Strumming the guitar and belting out one song after another in his inimitable style, Assam's Zubeen Garg had mesmerized youth and elders alike for nearly three decades with his songs and films, which had a universal appeal.

Singer, music composer, film director, and actor Zubeen is credited with singing in over 40 languages and dialects. Still, it was the song 'Ya Ali' from the movie Gangster that brought him fame across the country and earned him the best playback singer at the Global Indian Film Awards (GIFA) in 2006.

The 52-year-old singer, who began singing from the age of three, was an icon for several generations of children and youth who grew up singing or humming his songs.

Be it popular Assamese or western, folk or classical-based songs, Garg gave voice to varied genres of music and excelled in all, with most later-year singers emulating his style of music and singing.

Garg was also never shy of expressing his views on political and social issues.

A large number of Zubeen Garg fan clubs have been set up over the years in every nook and cranny of Assam.

Garg began his professional music career with his debut Assamese album 'Anamika', which was released in November 1992 and still remains on the popularity charts.

His first recorded songs were "Tumi Junu Pariba Hun" and "Tumi Junaki Hubakh" for the album 'Ritu' in 1993.

Garg released many other albums, such as 'Xapunor Xur', 'Junaki Mon', 'Maya' and 'Asha'.

His first album of Bihu songs 'Ujan Pirit' was released before he moved to Mumbai in 1995, which went on to become a resounding commercial success.

The Bollywood music industry beckoned him in the mid-1990s, where he debuted with his first Indipop solo album ‘Chandni Raat’. Later, he recorded a few Hindi albums and also sang for films like ‘Gaddaar’, ‘Dil Se’, ‘Doli Saja Ke Rakhna’, ‘Fiza’, ‘Kaante’ and ‘Zindagi’.

Garg was, however, soon disenchanted with Bollywood, returning to Assam to climb the height of popularity with his numerous songs and he went to compose music for 38 Assamese, four Bengali and three Hindi films.

Zubeen also acted in 27 Assamese films including 'Tumi Mur Mathu Mur', 'Dinabandhu', 'Mon Jai', 'Ramdhenu', 'Kanchanjunga', ‘Mission China’, ‘Dr Bezbarua 2’, ‘Tumi Ahibane’, ‘The Underworld’ and ‘Wide Angle’.

The singer also directed three Assamese films, 'Tumi Mur Mathu Mur', ‘Kanchanjunga’ and ‘Mission China’ and acted in the Assamese television serial 'Anuradha' in 2011.

Born on November 18, 1972, to a bureaucrat father and a homemaker-singer mother, Garg was also known for expressing his views clearly on political issues.

A man dedicated to strong convictions, he defied the proscribed outfit ULFA's ban on singing Hindi songs during Bihu functions, saying that they have no right to give diktats to artistes. Garg was also at the forefront of the agitation against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

He ran a charity, the Kalaguru Artiste Foundation, which donates money for various causes, particularly during floods in the state.

Garg had dropped out of college to follow his music career but was awarded an honorary Doctor of Literature (D.Litt.) degree by the University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya in 2024.

He was also a prolific writer and had three books of poetry to his credit.