Personal Analysis of song "Ami Ami Kore Berai" : a "Lalongeeti"

deathpsychh — 2022-10-17 14:28:15 UTC

What is Lalongeeti? :
"Lalongeeti", a humbly celebrated Bengali folk music genre, consists of compositions and writings by Fakir Lalon Shah - a venerable spiritual figure, philosopher and mystic poet, born in Bangladesh during the British hegemony.
The song "Ami Ami Kore Berai" is one of the lesser known compositions by Lalon. In 2015, the Bengali movie "Arshinagar" (Dir : Aparna Sen) attempted to present the composition to the masses but both the movie and the song weren't big of a success with an audience who enjoys a more 'hip' form of entertainment.

Lyrics :

Interpretation :
Fakir Lalon uses the phrase : "Amar bhitor ami ke ta khobor rakhlina" [You didn't keep a record of who I was within me] as an anaphora in the song.
Many might argue that there is a concealed second-person verb in the composition but I interpret the composition solely as one of his introspections where he interrogates himself, perhaps in a melancholic huff.
He asks(himself) in a rather forlorn taunt , "Sudhu ami ami kore berau, ei ami ke ta janona. Ei ami ke ta kon jona?"[You keep chanting "I, me, myself" but you don't know who this "I" is. Tell me, who is this "I"?].

In the next (presumably) three stanzas, Fakir Lalon abandons materialism, chase for all designations in the human-centric society(whether noble or abject) and devotion to religious brotherhoods. His lack of conformity leaves him with no shelter, except for his own mortal body.

Thus, in the next few stanzas, Lalon ventures yet deeper into (what I assume to be) more philosophical and spiritual genres of this mystical composition.

Unintelligible Ramblings by deathpsychh

Personal Analysis of song "Ami Ami Kore Berai" : a "Lalongeeti"