This year the Nobel Prize for Literature was won by singer, composer and social activist Bob Dylan. He has been influential in popular music and culture for more than five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when his songs chronicled social unrest, although Dylan repudiated suggestions from journalists that he was a spokesman for his generation. Nevertheless, early songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-changin''" became anthems for the American civil rights and anti war movements. Leaving behind his initial base in the American folk music revival, his six-minute single "Like a Rolling Stone" recorded in 1965, enlarged the range of popular music. Dylan's mid-1960s recordings, backed by rock musicians, reached the top end of the US music charts while also attracting denunciation and criticism from others in the folk movement. During the 1991 Grammy Awards, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award. During his acceptance speech he mentioned things that his father told him when he was younger. "Well, my daddy, he didn't leave me much, you know he was a very simple man, but what he did tell me was this, he did say, 'Son.' He said, 'you know it's possible to become so defiled in this world that your own father and mother will abandon you, and if that happens, God will always believe in your ability to mend your ways."Bob Dylan and the Nobel Prize
Dylans career has spanned over five decades and his influence still pervades genres from
rock and pop to folk and soul
Masihul Huq Chowdhury
This year the Nobel Prize for Literature was won by singer, composer and social activist Bob Dylan. He has been influential in popular music and culture for more than five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when his songs chronicled social unrest, although Dylan repudiated suggestions from journalists that he was a spokesman for his generation. Nevertheless, early songs such as Blowin in the Wind and The Times They Are a-changin became anthems for the American civil rights and anti war movements. Leaving behind his initial base in the American folk music revival, his six-minute single Like a Rolling Stone recorded in 1965, enlarged the range of popular music. Dylans mid-1960s recordings, backed by rock musicians, reached the top end of the US music charts while also attracting denunciation and criticism from others in the folk movement. During the 1991 Grammy Awards, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award. During his acceptance speech he mentioned things that his father told him when he was younger. Well, my daddy, he didnt leave me much, you know he was a very simple man, but what he did tell me was this, he did say, Son. He said, you know its possible to become so defiled in this world that your own father and mother will abandon you, and if that happens, God will always believe in your ability to mend your ways.
From 1901 to 1912, the committees work reflected an interpretation of the ideal direction stated in Nobels will as a lofty and sound idealism, which caused Leo Tolstoy, Henrik Ibsen and Mark Twain to be rejected. Swedens historic antipathy towards Russia was cited as the reason neither Tolstoy nor Anton Chekhov took the prize. During World War I and its immediate aftermath, the committee adopted a policy of neutrality, favoring writers from non-combatant countries. The heavy focus on European authors, and Swedes in particular, is the subject of mounting criticism, including from major Swedish newspapers. The majority of the laureates have been European. Swedes have received more prizes than all of Asia. In 2008, Horace Endgahl then the permanent secretary of the Academy, declared that Europe still is the center of the literary world and that the US is too isolated, too insular. They dont translate enough and dont really participate in the big dialogue of literature. In 2009, Engdahls replacement, Peter Englund, rejected this sentiment (In most language areas ... there are authors that really deserve and could get the Nobel Prize and that goes for the United States and the Americas, as well,) and acknowledged the Eurocentric bias of the selections, saying that, I think that is a problem. We tend to relate more easily to literature written in Europe and in the European tradition.
The term 1960s also refers to an era more often called the Sixties denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends around the globe. This cultural decade is more loosely defined than the actual decade, beginning around 1963 with the Kennedy assassination and ending around 1972 with the Watergate scandal. The Sixties, as they are known in both scholarship and popular culture, is a term used by historians, journalists, and other objective academics; in some cases nostalgically to describe the counter cultural and revolution in social norms about clothing, music, drugs, dress, sexuality, formalities, and schooling; and in others pejoratively to denounce the decade as one of irresponsible excess, flamboyance, and decay of social order. The decade was also labeled the Swinging Sixties because of the fall or relaxation of social taboos especially relating to racism and sexism that occurred during this time. Several Western nations such as the United States, United Kingdom, France, and West Germany turned to the political left in the early and mid-1960s. The popular and populist presidency of John F Kennedy in United States, In Britain, the Labour gained power in 1964. In France, the protests of 1968 led to President Charles de Gaulle temporarily fleeing the country. For some, May 1968 meant the end of traditional collective action and the beginning of a new era to be dominated mainly by the so-called new social movement. Italy formed its first left-of-center government in March 1962 with a coalition of Christian Democrats, Social Democrats and moderate Republicans. Socialists joined the ruling block in December 1963. In Brazil, Goulart president after Janio Quadros resigned.
In Africa the 1960s was a period of radical political change as 32 countries gained independence. The Vietnam War also known as the Second Indochina War and known in Vietnam as Resistance War Against America, was a war that occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975.
It was the second of the Indochina wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and the government of South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese army was supported by the Soviet Union, China and other communist allies and the South Vietnamese army was supported by the United States, South Korea, Australia, Thailand and other anti communist allies and the war is therefore considered a Cold War era proxy war. This war left a profound impact on socio political map of the World.
Dylan made two important career moves in August 1962: he legally changed his name to Robert Dylan, and he signed a management contract with Albert Grossman. In June 1961, Dylan had signed an agreement with Roy Silver. In 1962, Grossman paid Silver $10,000 to become sole manager.) Grossman remained Dylans manager until 1970, and was notable for his sometimes confrontational personality and for protective loyalty. Dylan said, He was kind of like a Colonel Tom Parker figure ... you could smell him coming. Tensions between Grossman and John Hammond led to Hammonds being replaced as producer of Dylans second album by the young African-American jazz producer, Tom Wilson.
Dylan, real name Robert Allen Zimmerman, turned 75 earlier this year. His career has spanned more than five decades and his influence still pervades genres from rock and pop to folk and soul. His stunning lyrical ability has seen him tackle timeless themes from politics to love and he remains a hugely respected cultural presence.Dylan had been off the road since a motorcycle accident prematurely ended his 1966 Blonde on Blonde world tour, though he did perform at a Woody Guthrie tribute show in 1968, later guesting with the Band at a 1969 Illinois show and again at the Isle of Wight a few months later. Yet by the time George Harrison started planning the Concert for Bangladesh in 1971, Dylan hadnt played a single song onstage in almost two years. Harrison knew that getting Dylan on the bill would guarantee sell-outs at both the afternoon and evening shows, and somehow he actually talked him into showing up. According to legend, Harrison asked Dylan to perform Blowin in the Wind, a song he hadnt played in seven years. Dylan snapped back, Are you going to play I Want to Hold Your Hand? In the end, Dylan did perform Blowin in the Wind, along with A Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall, It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry, Love Minus Zero/No Limit, Just Like a Woman and Mr. Tambourine Man. He was backed by the one-time-only supergroup of Harrison (guitar), Leon Russell (bass) and Ringo Starr (tambourine). With his beard trimmed below the jawline, his hair medium short but wiry, he looked as if hed stepped off the cover of The Freewheelin Bob Dylan, read the original review in Rolling Stone. His voice now had a beautiful fullness to it, but it was closer to The Times They Are A Changin than Nashville Skyline.
Dylan changed the nature of his art form repeatedly and is still doing so, which is why hes the greatest creator of songs who has ever lived,argues writer/director Jaydip Verma. A sentiment shared by millions of Dylanologists, and the Swedish Academys permanent Secretary Sarius Danius. She said, If you look far back, 5000 years, you discover Homer and Sappho. They wrote poetic texts which were meant to be performed, and its the same way for Bob Dylan. We still read Homer and Sappho, and we enjoy it. For 54 years now, hes been at it reinventing himself, constantly creating a new identity. Salman Rushdie twits From Orpheus to Faiz, song poetry have been closely linked. Dylan is the brilliant inheritor of the bardic tradition. Great choice. # Nobel.
The writer, a banker by profession, has worked both in local andoverseas market with various foreign and local banks in different positions
