ZUBEEN GARG - END OF A TRUE MEGASTAR, A LEGEND AND ICON OF ASSAM, INDIA

In 2019, when the CAA movement was at its peak, I caught a glimpse of Zubeen Garg ( my first ), and I was like truely bowled over, mesmerised. He arrived quite late to the event; but, when he did the function got on a different electrifying vibe altogether. Everyone was waiting for Zubeen - the crowd and even the organisers and other dignitaries/ stars/ participants who had arrived much earlier and had already performed their parts/speeches. Zubeen overshadowed them all, although, he isn't a man of great height or built ( he was quite lean and around 5ft5 if I'm not wrong ). His personality was something else though, enormous. When he spoke, everyone listened. Everyone loved his bluntness, dark humor which also sparked couple of controversies along the way. And when he left, in style, in his black specially modified Isuzu SUV, there was nothing left in that meeting. He left a void hanging in that ground which reflected his real star status and power - quite rare in Assam.

Two or three years back, I was walking back home and near the Rajgarh bylane that turns towards Lachit Nagar, I saw a man casually standing. He was bald and looked at me passing. There's a 2nd hand two-wheeler shop where he was standing. He looked so familar that I had to do a double take. It was Zubeen Garg! I couldnot believe my eyes. We had both made eye contact and maybe he expected me to act like a crazy fan ( he had an all knowing smile twitching at the corner of his lips ) and run to get an autograph, but, I hesitantly looked away...still stunned to see such a huge star casually waiting outside a shop. There was no body guard around. He was wearing a cap, but one could see the baldness underneath. Couple of interviews that I watched later confirmed that he had shaved his head for his upcoming movie. Well, those two are the only times I saw Zubeen Garg in real.

I was introduced to Zubeen Garg's music quite late. I lived in Bombay through the nineties and perhaps thats why I missed out when a star was rising back home in Assam. Like many others in rest of India, I was introduced to his singing via the famous Gangster movie song 'Ya Ali'. I was impressed that an assamese singer had made such waves with his song. Later, I found out that he was already an established musician back in Assam. However, I was still ignorant of his music untill my father's demise. Its when I started spending more time in Assam. And thanks to youtube, I could dig out all his songs. And I was hooked. I fell in love with almost all his songs and could understand why he had gained such a cult status. His music is refreshing and very melodious and stays in your mind, heart and lips. I've sung 'Maya maya, mathu maya' umpteenth number of times since.

When someone passes away at 52, its indeed shocking, that too in such a freak accident. But thats what has happened with the legend reminding us again how fickle life can be and that no matter how rich or famous you are, no one can escape death at some point. Death is the ultimate reality. Thank you Zubeen Garg for unleashing those precious and priceless melodies one after the other here on earth. Maybe, it was time for you to make music in the heavens too and rock the heavenly realms. Every assamase ( and also others ) will forever cherish the incredible legacy you left us with. You'll be missed and remembered.



Born: 18 November 1972, Tura - Died: 19 September 2025 (age 52 years), Singapore - A multi-instrumentalist with expertise in 12 different instrments and singer with songs sung in 40+ languages and dialects, music director, composer, lyricist, music producer, actor, film director, film producer, script writer and philanthropist.
( Images - Google )