It is 'jest and jollity that we all crave, associated as they are with song and dance. They can take many shapes- from pure fun and frolic to jokas and innuendos, from bawdy broadsides to polished wit. Laughter, which bubbles up from inside, the risibility engendered by a witticism or a comic song is becoming such a rarity nowadays that 'Laughing clubs' have emerged where one uses the jaw muscles assiduously to produce laughter for better health. Even youth whose laughter bubbles up as when a soda bottle is opened - 'uttchhe hashi bhasbhasliye sodar mota pet 'theckey' (Sukumar Ray) is now forgetting to laugh little wonder, then that a popular genre known as 'comic', so popular during the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, has almost ceased to exist. Comic songs used to be very popular.Philosophers, thinkers, writers have composed songs just for fun, sometimes to express lightly something of great seriousness, since a quip often has a stronger impact than a reprimand or an oration. Comic songs have been effectively used by dramatists for 'relief' - 'comic relief' as it is fermed. Comic songs were of a very large variety. From buffonery, they spanned the whole gamut of human emotions, highlighting social problems so that one could laugh away social evils. 

The advent of the gramophone brought about a revolutionary change in listening to music in the middle of the 19th century: The songs of popular singers were transported to one's living room - kaler gaan or 'sang from the machine' as it was called - and what began as an awe-inspiring novelty soon become a household necessity. Entertainment, before the gramophone era, was confined to the theatre and the occasional 'variety' shows. The theatre and the songs therein was confined to a small minority (from which woman were farred). With the gramophone, these songs became household favourites. 

With deference to female sensitivity, the bawdies songs were eschewed. Popular singers of the time, such as Abhayapada Chattopadhay, Manmatha Roy, Surada Gupta, Haridas Bandopadhaya. K.Mullick, Ascharyamoyee Dasi, Indubala and others still alive like Ramkumar Chattopadhyay lent their voices for dises which swelled the increasing number of listeners. These songs became 'hits' as we now say.

But these 'comics' were not just light songs to be heard and forgotten. They were used in plays as the situation demanded. Put in the mouth of the 'fool' or 'Bidhushak' who had the right to speak up to superiors, hiding under the fool's motley the wisdom of a sage these songs could point a finger at the prevailing social evils. From these songs we also get a clear picture of what society was like then, of the many social problems - such as the dowry system - that are still with us,though perhaps in different guise.

Thinly veiled political satire also formed the theme for these songs. The turbulent years before Independence when events moved fast were captured in these songs. They reflect the mood of the times, sometimes in lampoons at the foreign overlords, sometimes at the psendosahibs.

The comic songs of Bengal were mostly found in plays of well-known dramatists, the most popular play right being Dijendralal Ray, better known as D.L.Roy. In his play Sourabh Rustam, there is the song 'Pratham jakhon biye holo bhablum baha bahare' that deals jocularly with the vanishing romance of marriage as days pass. In the play 'Prayaschitta,' we find one of Ray's best known songs 'Bilet Pherta'- a dig at England returned Indians who are trying their best to ape the 'Sahibs'.

In this phobia a thing of the past or is it still very much with us? It is that Anglophiles have just changed into 'Mericaphiles' Roy's songs written in a mixture of English and Bengali (a dig again at those Indians who are ashamed of their own language and culture) can still be a pointer to the language spoken by many people today. The following lines are from another of his plays - Kalki Abatar:

(We speak in a mixture language of English and Bengali, but if you think we can speak either correctly then you are an awful godse.) In a frolicking mood this dramatist, who had written plays like 'ebar palan' and 'Rama Priatapisinghi' with fervour, for the love of his Motherland, could also benter into a dialougue in which a man and a showman point out the unequal share of the wardens in raising a family which falls to the lots of pach in 'Tomarta O Amarta' (yours and our). Those were the days when 'men worked and women swept; so that this song holds up a mirror to today's Indian society in generalize, Bengali in particular. The woman complains, 'Tomra phoosliye khelia paedao shukhiye gharey mora bhanda koi." Another very popular song sung by D.L. Roy himself for the Gramophone Company was from the play 'Grahasparsham.'

'Paroto janmo nao keno Brishet barer barbelaye.' (Dont's be borno if you can help it, on the insuspicious moment of midroom on Thursdays) Thur.

Rabindranath Tagore was such an exceptional personality that he pervoder every branch of literature, song. Those who only know him from translations, know him as a 'mystic' poet. How can one translate in another language the inimitable song 'O bhai Kanai kare janain dushahamari dukkho' (A mock language by gone whose, though to be hassle accumulated University pedegress, is completely floored by the minispial noted in mustisck)? In 'Balmiki Pratibha' we haven the song:

In 'Chitrakumari Sabha'how cleverly he uses the English word 'wish' to rhyme with whiskey :

Another poet, composer and singer of exceptional ebility was Kazi Nazrul Islam. Being connected with the Gramaphone company, he had to compose many songs to order several of his lighter songs were recorded in discs by HMV, the singers being popular artistes of the time like Haridas Bandopadhyaya. For example- chotir biraha (on losing a slipper) & sri sri Piyar bandhan (a palan to the onion) was sung by Ranjit Roy.

Nazrul could prickly and satirical when social evils and political bondage under foreign rulers moved him to anger. He who wrote in fun - 'kaho priye kamone a rajani katai? Kahite saramey badhey tamaku je nai" (How shall I spend the night my love, tell me without tobacco?) could aim satirical shafts at the Simon Commision Report, The Round, sable conference & the Bill for Dominion status.

What aroused, his ire was the poison of communalism & the blind adherence to caste and custom frevailing in our country. Nazrul Islam has composed beautiful Islamic songs; at the same time he has given us some of the finest shyamasangeet. 

In Tiki and Dadi, he aims his shafts at both the Hindu sporting a 'tiki' or tujt of hair on a clanshaven pate and the Muslim proud of his goatee. The two are engaged in a war of words with each otha, finally there is 'doshi' or understanding. In 'Bhai bhai thain thain' we have the same satirical humour. He makes an impassioned appeal to his country men both Hindus and Muslims:-

Now that communalism is again raising its ugly head, how relevant is Nazrul's appeal. How potent the bar underneath the comic lines of the song is which a caste Hindu laments:-

(How annoying it is that one cannot avoid the proximity of low castes when one goes out of his house.)

Rajanikanta sen, known as Kantakobi, was greaty influenced by the comic songs of D.L. Roy. Best known for his devotional songs, kantakolsi has composed some delightful comic songs, such as Purohit and Barer Dar. In a well-known comic work of his, 'Oudarik,' he has created a stansel and Gretil world without the witch!
Rajanikanta, like D.L. Roy, mixed English words with Bengali to create a comic effect and at the same time to gently make users of such 'khichuri language' realise how ridiculous it is.

Rasaraj Amritlal Basu is known for satire, particularly of the political kind. Basu was a very successful actor, director and playwright and his most popular writing were 'farces' such as Khasdakhal, Bibaha Bibhrat and Babu. His forte was satire of black humour aimed at social and political problems.

An orthodox Hindu, he did not approve of opening western habits and fashions blindly, as he satirised in chalachitra chanchori. His famous song- Dande Matanam is a satire on the high ideals of Bande-Mataram being replaced by petty ambitions and quarrels.

A quite exceptional character was Dadathakur (Sarat Chandra Pandit). Some people were born with a silver spoon in their mouths, Dadathakur had a laughing spoon in his. An impromptu song writer he can be called a master of ready wit. His kolkatar bhool is one of his best known comic songs in which the anomalies in the nomenclature of Calcutta roads have been pointed out with wit. Stis 'election' songs are famous, being just as relevant now as when he wrote them. One example:

A good portion of cronic songs is taken up by parodies. Speaking of Dadathakur, we might mention here a parody he composed on. Atulprasad's famous song 'A mori Bangla bhansa!'

We have to turn again to Tagore for he was master also of parody. He parodied a song of Gobind Roy's 'kato kal pare bolo bharat re' in this fashion:

In polished wit and urban charu he has no equal. 

Nalinikanta Sarkar was adept at parody writing. Choosing the subject of voting and electioneering, he pouodied a famous Ramprasadi song, "Amaye de ma tabildari... je daley hok bhiriya de ma, hochechey jetha palla bhari." In this age of volte face, how very apt and contemporary it sounds.

Since the 1980s the fountain of comic songs has been drying up. Have we forgotten to laugh in independent India? Why not delve into the comic songs of the last 100 yrs. and wake up refreshed in the company of the old Masters of Rangarash? "