Indian musician Zubeen Garg tragically passed away after a respiratory complication while scuba diving at the ‘Northeast Festival’ in Singapore on September 19. He was 54.
Known for his soulful voice, Zubeen had sung a wide range of songs in Bengali, Assamese and Hindi. Many of his recordings, including several unreleased tracks, were left unfinished due to his untimely death.
On November 18, in honour of his 54th birth anniversary, one of these unreleased songs, ‘Obujh Pakhi’, was officially released.
The track was made available on the YouTube channel ‘ZuTi’, managed by lyricist and producer Zulfikar Russell. The music for Obujh Pakhi was composed and arranged by Tunai Debashish Ganguly, with lyrics by Zulfikar Russell.
Russell explained that Zubeen had recorded seven Bengali songs written by him between 2015 and 2016, which were recorded at Russell’s personal studio in Assam.
On Zubeen’s suggestion, Hindi versions of these songs were later created, with Zubeen travelling to Kolkata on several occasions to record the vocals. The project eventually consisted of 14 tracks in both Bengali and Hindi. Obujh Pakhi is one of them, and its Hindi version will be released soon.
A press release mentioned that, following Zubeen’s passing, Russell and Ganguly had been uncertain about how best to release his remaining works. In the end, they decided to entrust the decision to Zubeen’s wife, Garima Garg.
Ganguly travelled to Assam on November 15 to discuss the release, but due to Garima’s ongoing health issues, the discussion was brief. Ultimately, they decided to release Obujh Pakhi on Zubeen’s birth anniversary as a tribute.
Russell and Ganguly intend to gradually release all of Zubeen’s unreleased songs, with the proceeds from these tracks to be donated to a trust established in his name to support charitable initiatives.
