Gautam Chattopadhyay, a student at the Presidency College in Kolkata, used to play the saxophone and lead guitar in a band called The Urge, whose members were mostly Anglo Indians, and used to play Beatles, Crosby, Clapton etc.

In 1976, during a three-month break that Gautam took due to a leg injury, he formed a band called Saptarshi which was later rechristened to Moheener Ghoraguli.

Gautam wrote lyrics, sang, and played lead guitar. The original line up included Pradip Chattopadhyay (brother of Gautam), who played bass/flute, Bishu Chatterjee, another brother (drums), Tapesh Banerjee (vocals), Tapas Das (rhythm guitar/vocals), Abraham Mazumdar (violin/piano) and Ranjan Ghosal (cousin), who arranged the music and drew album covers.

The literal meaning of Moheen’er Ghora-guli is “Moheen’s horses” which is taken from a poem Ghora (‘Horses’) by the great modernist Bengali poet Jibanananda Das. The second line of the poem is:

Moheener ghoragulo ghash khae Kartik’er jyotsna’r prantorey

(Moheen’s horses graze on the horizon, in the Autumn moonlight)

Moheener Ghoraguli’s sound was an amalgamation of rock music and Bengali folk traditions engraved in tribal music like ‘Baul’. Though for uninitiated their music might be a description of fusion music yet it was a distinct musical genre in itself away from fusion settings. Their songs had rock like chord progressions and heavy use of guitar yet their style was rooted into urban Bengali culture. Calling them a fusion band, as is fashionable whenever a sound emerges that uses popular musical settings with traditional or folk music will be a huge misnomer. Moreover, with the lyrics that talked about everyday urban experiences they did to music what Jibanananda Das did to poetry – make it accessible to bourgeois layer of society. They sang about contemporary themes and gave voice to the experience of modernity in urban Bengali culture. The lyrics of Gautam Chattopadhyay were radically new, of a very personal or social nature, similar to the urban folk movement led by Bob Dylan in the 60s.

They self-produced their first album ‘Sambigno Paakhikool O Kolkata Bishayak’ (Ruffled Feathers and Thematic Kolkata) in 1976. Soon they started performing in colleges all over Kolkata and had a fan following among urban middle-class educated youth. Two more records followed, “Ajaana Udonto Bostu ba Aw.Oo.Baw” (Unidentified Flying Object or U.F.O., 1977) and “Drishyomaan Moheener Ghoraguli” (Real Moheen’s Horses, 1978). Like the music itself, the efforts have a hand-crafted feel, with even the album covers designed by the members themselves.

The band mostly remained unknown during their first five year existence. Their experimental music with unorthodox choice of song themes like politics, poverty, injustice, revolution, love, loneliness, even begging and prostitution; failed to gain much fan base. Their nonconventional song themes can be illustrated with popular songs like “Bhalobashi jyotsnae”, a tribute to the natural beauty of the Bengali countryside and their signature song “Prithibita Naki” which is an expression on how television creates urban alienation.

Moheener Ghoraguli disbanded in 1981 and their music was largely forgotten. In mid 90s it was time to revive the music of Calcutta first ethnic rock band largely due to two reasons. First, as the Indian economy opened up to global forces, a new generation of youth was on the scene. New bands were emerging who though unconditioned of Moheener‘s earlier efforts, had music that closely resembled modern bourgeois sensibilities that Moheener envisaged. Second, a fresh sound was evolving in eastern India having significant influences from Western folk and rock. A new genre of songwriting called Jibonmukhi (About life) revolutionized by poet Suman Chattopaddhay, with songs about everyday life, ordinary people and burning social issues was taking form in Calcutta’s literary circles. It was then realized that similar efforts to capture middle class social concerns have been made by now forgotten Moheener Ghoraguli. The interest in the band grew and it was during this time that Gautam decided to revive the group. The original members all had professional commitments now, so Gautam decided to inspire and encourage younger musicians who were part of the growing Bangla rock scene with bands like Krosswindz, Lakkhichaara, Fossils, Cactus and Bhoomi.

Four albums were released, the first being ‘Aabaar Bochhor Kuri Pore’ (Again, After Twenty-odd Years) (1995). The album was released by private record label at Kolkata Book Fair and was a huge success just through word of mouth publicity. It was followed by Jhora Somoyer Gaan (Songs of Times Past) (1996), Maya (Illusion) (1997) and Khyapar Gaan (Songs of the Loony) (1999). Moheener Ghoraguli’s music finally reached to the working class culture of Calcutta which was eluded since two decade of its formation. Their music gained the popularity and critical recognition it deserved and even had Pritam Chakroborty, a well known Bollywood music director, having plagiarized the song “Prithibita Naki” into a hit single.

Moheener Ghoraguli was undoubtedly the first Bangla rock band with an authentic ‘Indian’ feel to its composition. Calcutta, unlike other metropolitan centers of India, had huge affinity towards indigenous cultural experimentation. While other cultural centers like Bombay and Delhi had rock music flourishes in its very authentic form, Calcutta has taken pride into molding this urban youth cultural form into an original native musical style which includes elements of working class sensibilities, youth disillusionment as well as Bengali folk subtleness packed into rich contemporary tradition.

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