Freedom song

Music is all about life, of the paths we travel every day. Before a splash, Lou Majaw speaks to Mathures Paul about the music scene in North-east India

It was beauty of the rains that inspired The Great Society to compose April Showers. The melody lingers on long after a meeting with Lou Majaw, one of Bob Dylan's most ardent fans.
“April Showers transcends time and can be played throughout monsoon. The Great Society composed it on my birthday. The song is an ode to monsoon," says Majaw, whose visits to Kolkata has dwindled over the years. An Ace of Spades concert (featuring Lou, Arjun Sen and Nondan Bagchi) at Someplace Else at The Park brought him to Kolkata, the city where he first heard Dylan, the city where he began his career.
Born into a poor family, Majaw and Shillong are synonymous. Every aspiring musician in Shillong knows him, has spoken to him sometime or the other on a street like Upland Road. The beauty of Shillong, the ageless Jacob's Ladder or the Laban hills, the rains… Majaw finds inspiration in the simple things of life. Wherever he lays down his guitar is his home.
"We couldn't even afford a radio. Whenever I got the opportunity I would tune into Radio Ceylon, the source for English and Hindi music. For people who had never heard Elvis or Bill Haley, it was a station that opened a window to a different world."
Eventually, he turned up in Calcutta in 1965 to be introduced to a phenomenon ~ Bob Dylan. "At my friend's house I heard Elvis and Bill Haley. They sounded great. And then a Chuck Berry record was spinned. It was 'aw man'. That was a man with raw talent. He sounded different from Elvis. Finally, Bob Dylan's song was played. His voice distinct, his lyrics deep. Blowin' In The Wind blew me away! When I heard Dylan's Mr Tambourine Man, I understood what the real world was about. The Dylan I grew up with is still very much there. From folk to rock to country… he is continuously experimenting. His music is about the freedom of expression, about a planet where no rules exist. He speaks about a free world."
In Calcutta he played at Moulin Rouge and Trincas and had been associated with Vanguards, Supersound Factory etc. "Calcutta was swinging. This was the music capital, at least, for me. The Anglo Indians made the city colourful. When they left, the magic was somewhat lost. The 1980s found the city dying, ready to be buried. Only in the 1990s did things start looking up."
Never a good student, Majaw moved wherever fate took him but he never forgot his dream ~ speak about a free world, a place where there is freedom of expression. "I visited Kathmandu in 1969-70. The flower generation was having a ball. The cats (girls) were cool; some of them were busy smacking the pack. Everyone was into music and poetry, all of them were chilling out. I stuck around and played the music I loved."
Little needs to be said about Lou Majaw and The Great Society. "As a member of Vanguards or other groups, we were not doing anything original. It was more of lip service for famous names and the activity was not fulfiling. This is when The Great Society came into being ~ a painting that was drawn in a different style."
Majaw often conducts workshops across India. "I especially like the one we conduct at St Mary's Convent. This year it was not conducted because of examinations. My idea is to inject music into the curriculum. Music is a part of life, a life beyond Algebra. Once you pass school, you know what life is. My schools are lanes, by-lanes and alleys."
He credits Nondon Bagchi and Abhijit Bose with the revival of Western music in Calcutta.
The Dylan enthusiast feels the North East is a breeding ground for young musicians working in various genres of music. "But all of them don't have the money to market themselves. I believe in the three 'e's ~ experience, exposure and earnings. Groups like Hemusphere should be given more opportunities. The political situation in Shillong has improved, which is conducive to the growth of the North-east music industry."