In 1999, something happened in Assamese music that would never happen again. Zubeen Garg and Bhupen Hazarika, two of the most distinctive voices the region has ever produced, came together on a single album.
That album was Xopun, and for those who know its backstory, it carries an emotional weight that goes far beyond the music itself.
Released under RK Productions, Xopun blended blues, pop, and classical sensibilities into eight songs that spanned generations of Assamese musical thought. The two voices could not have been more different in texture and era, yet the album holds together as a coherent piece of work, partly because it was built around something deeper than a commercial collaboration.
The album was, at its core, a tribute.
Almost all of the lyrics on Xopun were written by Amarjyoti Chaudhury, a lyricist who passed away at a tragically young age before he could witness the full flowering of his talent. Bhupen Hazarika and Amarjyoti Chaudhury had studied together at Cotton College, sharing a bond that predated fame and the weight of legacy.
When you understand that connection, the album takes on an entirely different dimension. Bhupen Hazarika was not merely lending his voice to songs. He was singing the words of a friend who could no longer speak for himself.
Amarjyoti Chaudhury deserves to be better known, and unfortunately, confusion has not helped his memory. He is frequently mixed up with the renowned orator and educationist Dr. Amarjyoti Chaudhury, son of Lakhyadhar Chaudhury, a completely different person. The lyricist who wrote for Xopun was a poet of considerable gift, and one story surrounding his work makes the entire tribute arc even more poignant.
His song Mur Nai Ekuwe Nai was believed to be lost until it was recovered by Shekharjyoti Neog, who then passed the found lyrics to Bhupen Hazarika. Bhupen da subsequently gave voice to those recovered words, ensuring that a piece of Amarjyoti Chaudhury’s creative soul survived its author.
Across the album’s eight tracks, Bhupen Hazarika sang four songs, Zubeen Garg sang three, and the eighth track, Ojanite, was performed by Madhumita Goswami.
There is one clarification that needs to be made firmly, because the confusion persists even among dedicated listeners. The album’s opening track, Xomoyu Jen, was written and composed by Zubeen Garg himself. It is not an Amarjyoti Chaudhury composition.
Many people assume all eight songs share the same lyricist, but that is incorrect. Every other song on the album carries Amarjyoti Chaudhury’s words. Xomoyu Jen belongs to Zubeen alone, both in lyric and composition.
Behind the scenes, the album was co-produced by Late Tapan Choudhury, who brought his whole heart to the project. His motivation was deeply personal. Amarjyoti Chaudhury was his brother, and producing Xopun was his way of ensuring that his brother’s words reached as many ears as possible, carried by two of Assam’s greatest voices.
Bhupen Hazarika and Zubeen Garg never made another album together. This one sits alone, which only adds to its significance. For anyone approaching Xopun purely as a music listener, it offers a rare combination of blues sensibility, classical grounding, and pop accessibility.
But for those who know what lives behind the songs, who wrote the words, who they were written for, who hunted down the lost lyrics, and who poured grief into production credit, the album becomes something closer to a document of love and remembrance.
Twenty-seven years after its release, Xopun remains the one and only place where Zubeen Garg and Bhupen Hazarika shared the same album. That alone makes it irreplaceable.