Guwahati: “Diya ghurai diya prithibi amar amak…” (“Give our world back to us, the world that belongs to us…”) is from “Sishu”, an album Zubeen Garg released in 2002 in memory of his younger sister, Jongki Borthakur, a singer and actor who died in a car accident that year while travelling to a stage show.Written in the immediate aftermath of that loss, the song’s lyrics — a plea to reclaim a lost world, a longing for a grandmother’s courtyard and a rejection of a world turned “upside down” — read as an elegy as much as a protest.More than two decades later, the song has taken on a new meaning. On Zubeen’s first death anniversary, more than six lakh students, along with about four lakh others, including 50,000 teachers and parents of students from 1,500 schools affiliated with Assam Jatiya Bidyalaya Siksha Sansad across 25 districts, sang it during morning assemblies at their respective schools.The symmetry is difficult to miss: a song originally written as one man’s mourning for his sister was now being used as an entire state’s mourning for him — a vessel for collective loss, sung by a generation that never saw Zubeen perform it live but inherited its ache all the same.At Assam Jatiya Bidyalaya in Noonmati, where 2,500 students sang the song during the morning assembly, Zubeen’s wife, Garima Garg, stood among them and watched a generation turn one of his songs into a collective remembrance.Calling Assam Jatiya Bidyalaya Siksha Sansad’s initiative an innovative way of expressing its love, respect and affection for Zubeen, Garima said, “Every person in Assam will remain grateful to the students, teachers and the entire Assam Jatiya Bidyalaya community for bringing together such a large number of young people in a collective tribute to Zubeen. Nearly six lakh students joined together, filling the sky with Zubeen’s songs, while their parents, teachers and special guests also participated in the initiative.”A year after his death, perhaps nothing captures Assam’s relationship with Zubeen better than this: his voice may no longer be heard on stage, but it is present everywhere else.It is heard in school assemblies and college festivals, at Bihu stages and family gatherings, and through headphones and YouTube playlists. His songs continue to be sung by people who grew up listening to him and, increasingly, by young musicians who were too young to experience the full span of his career.The first year without Zubeen has therefore not been simply a year of mourning. It has also been a period in which Assam’s music scene has begun adjusting to the absence of a singer, composer and actor who occupied an extraordinary place in it for decades and whom many regarded as a cultural conscience.The most visible change has been in the live-music circuit. For years, a Zubeen performance was more than a concert. It was a major public event, drawing audiences across age groups and often becoming a central attraction of Bihu celebrations and cultural programmes.His absence was particularly felt during the first Rongali Bihu after his death. Several celebrations were subdued, while some organisers altered their programmes or used performances by his collaborators as tributes, unwilling to fill the void with anything that felt like imitation.But the stage did not remain empty. Younger singers, bands and independent performers have increasingly occupied the space, performing Zubeen’s songs alongside their own compositions. His repertoire has become part of the working songbook of a new generation — sung not out of obligation but because the songs continue to fit the moment.There is another, less sentimental question: what happens to the ecosystem around a superstar when the superstar is gone?Zubeen’s concerts supported not only the singer but also musicians, backing vocalists, sound engineers, stage crews, event organisers, transporters and local businesses. His absence has therefore affected an entire chain around live entertainment, one that cannot simply be replaced by a single successor act.Zubeen’s concerts supported not just the singer but musicians, backing vocalists, sound engineers, stage crews, event organisers, transporters and local businesses. His absence has therefore affected an entire chain around live entertainment, one that cannot simply be replaced by a single successor act.
