Written by Kaushik Nath

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 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 lostlyrics, 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.