ARYA-A PHENOMENON by Professor B.K. Sahu

This article, published in a journal in 1974 on Arya Chaudhuri, was written by eminent scholar Professor B.K. Sahu, former Head of the Department of English, Utah State University, USA, which is still relevant.

Folk-song is the product of blood, conviviality_, toil, tears and sweat of the living people who are near the soil. Folk song is one of the most traditional and vital patterns of Indian music which has survived throughout the centuries of 'modern' civilisation and entertained not only the toiling masses in this country but lovers of music and art throughout the world. Thanks and our highest tributes are to those glorious heroes who had represented Indian Folk music before the world-platform with their historic achievements. Among the galaxy of national representatives who have put India on the world map, Mr. Arya Chaudhuri can legitima­tely claim a pride of place. He played a pivotal role in the International Folk-song contest at Berlin and he was adjudged first and won the gold medal by defeating 1180 competitors from different corners of the globe. It is undoubtedly a pregnant addition to our national prestige and cultural uplift.

He is 'Arya' by name as well as 'Arya' by culture and he is 'Arya' in the dynamic sense as he has combined the best of 'Anarya* with the true genre of 'Arya' culture. As a result, his folk-song can satisfy the musical appetite of the variety of people- both the plebeian and the patriciate. It is 'the brandy of the damned' as well as the champagne of the aristocrat. Mark that Mr. Arya Chaudhuri, the folk-song-wizard of Bengal hypnoti­zed the people of Berlin (i e. Arya blood) who once declared that they are the only Aryan blood to rule over the world!

Mr. Chaudhuri is a realist as well. He is well aware of the fact that folk-song is not relished by the invading aggressive sophisticated modern people. The typically high-brow-people have afforded a very lukewarm reception to folk music as a whole. Yet it is not the cause of his rejection, but the cause of his acceptance. He is a true man of the soil. He is really a patriot. He spares no pains to uphold the magnitude of Folk song - the true essence of it.    He vehemently criticises the trend of 'progressive degradation' He has no faith on sick, hurry and divided aims of Westernisation in the name of Indianisation. He abhors such a tendency of slavish mentality. But one thing should be dwelled upon here that he has remoulded, revived, reinvigorated, rejuvenated, enriched and added the various avenues, threads and possibilities of indigenous folk song by his sound education and knowledge of the study of the varieties of International Folk music, Obviously, the product is revolutionary. He is 'an epitome of the world'. His production is with a noble variation, yielding place to new for it has to live as a dynamic force and not merely a fossilised remnant of the past. Aptly says, H, G. Wells, "Tradition is the helper; tradition is the bar." But Mr. Chaudhuri has brilliantly fused Tradition and Individual talent in the arena of Folk song. Thus he is a great artiste in the Eliotean sense.

Naturally, his utmost endeavour has always been to represent the magnificently palatable varieties of folk songs with a new dimension keeping the ethnic and indigenous character intact.

Look at the man and the folk artiste. He is an aristocrat and he is an aristocrat in the Platonic sense, which is to be judged not by purse, but by good nature within him. A fine sense of cultural synthesis finds its fulfilment in the life of this talented young folk artiste.

So I dare believe that Mr. Chaudhuri — a volcano, a flaming sword, Titanic in energy, a capsule of   spirit, a man of bull dog's iron tenacity, a man of fine intelligence and sharp reasoning and a man with moral stamina and self-confidence, will lead himself to the most glorious position so as to be reckoned as a significant landmark in the annals of Indian Culture.