A Conversation with Mohammad Asafuddowlah
by Nazmus Saquib
In his long illustrious career, Mohammad Asafuddowlah has tried his hand at a plethora of things _ from public service to composing music and poems _ and passed with flying colours.
Born in 1936 in Faridpur, his career in government service spanned about 34 years. He was a secretary for about 14 years. Moreover, he served as president of the Bangladesh Administrative Service Association and worked as editor of the national English daily, Bangladesh Today.
He is also a famous music exponent with vast knowledge in classical, Nazrul and Rabindra sangeet. Of late, he is also known for his outspoken political analysis on television talk shows. The Weekend Independent recently caught up with this multifaceted personality over a cup of tea at his Dhanmondi residence. Excerpts of that freewheeling interview follow:
How did your fascination for music grow?
My orientation with music started at a very early age through my family as we used to practice it at home. My mother used to sing and my parents always inspired me in music. In 1941, when I was a student of class three, I began performing in public.
What types of music do you prefer to perform and practice?
Actually, I prefer all kinds of music, but I am more inclined towards difficult musical scores. I like those kinds of songs that are more ornamental and in terms of tune a bit complicated. I personally feel my compositions are a bit hard to comprehend for an average listener or music connoisseur.
As a composer you have featured numerous famous singers. Haimanti Sukla also has an album of your composition. Please tell us something on this.
Haimanti Sukla came to Dhaka to perform at a live event. She called me and told me over the phone that it had come to her knowledge that I featured singers like Ustad Ghulam Ali. She expressed her interest to bring out an album of my composition. Fortunately at the time, I had some fresh new tunes and compositions which I gave her for the album. She stayed in my guest house for a few days as we completed the mixing and recording of the album in Dhaka.
You also pen poems and your first poetry book, Ruddhoriti, came out in 1970. Thereafter, you took a long break and published your second poetry book, Potonger Slok, in 1994. Why are you not regular in writing poems? And how would you rate yourself as a poet?
Actually I write poems whenever I feel the urge to write them. The house where I used to stay in Faridpur, from 1968 to1969, was built amid a picturesque natural setting. That environment motivated me to write poetry. I started writing poetry when I was the additional deputy commissioner of Chittagong. I feel writing poetry is not a piece of cake. I write poems based on various emotions of my life and surroundings. I focus on the originality of each line of my poems.
When it comes to poetry, I take inspiration from Mirza Ghalib, Jalaluddin Rumi, Hafiz, et al. I think if someone fails to delve deep into Sufism, he or she cant produce good poems. I personally do not consider myself as a poet. However, I have a poem on my mother, titled Sudhu Shei Protisrutir Jonno. Whenever I read it, tears roll down my cheeks.
You are a singer, composer, lyricist, poet, talk show guest and writer. Which identity do you prefer among all of those?
Everyone here in our country craves for such identities, but I am not like them. I do not root for such adjectives. I do not know whether I am a poet or a lyricist or a singer or a composer. I think the people who have proper understanding of my works would be able to judge me better.
How would you rate yourself as a singer?
I still consider myself as an incomplete musician. Whenever I sit with my harmonium to produce music, I feel my incompetence. I think I hardly know about 100-150 raags. I think as a composer, one should know a minimum of 500 raags. But where should I go to learn? Who knows more than 100 raags in our country? This brings to my mind about the sorry state of our country. Here, we have sadly set up an unprecedented trend in almost every field where incompetent people are ruling the roost!
Whats your take on contemporary songs and singers?
To be honest with you, I do not like the music of our contemporary singers. I do not consider these as music. Making loud noise, using swear words as lyric may be liked by some young-generation listeners, but they can never be liked by me. Under the prevailing circumstances, I wish nobody would talk to me about music. My words might sound a bit harsh, but the truth is we had to struggle a lot to learn music. Therefore, when someone makes a mockery with it, we cant take that lightly.
Erosion of values is slowly but surely crippling this nation. Child abuse, corruption, etc. seem to be on the rise. Your comments.
When we were children, our parents used to beat us when we did wrong. We had to lead a disciplined life and had to practice religion. Therefore, we could differentiate between right and wrong. Nowadays, many people consider practicing religion an outdated idea. I think if somebody does not have religious values, he or she cant tell what is right and what is wrong. We can stop this erosion of values if we start instilling religious values in our children.
Of late, you have become famous for your outspoken nature in television talk shows. However, we do not get to see you often. Why?
I feel the organisers of these talk shows love me and they do not want me to get into any trouble because of my honest commentaries. Moreover, at this age, if I go to jail because of my talk show appearance, my family would suffer the most. So, I have decided to remain quiet.
