After listening to the song for the umpteenth time, I have arrived at a conclusion(which might be inconclusive). In the description, it is written that the narrator/protagonist of the "O Ki Ekbar Ashiya" is singing from a village with arable soils whilst Arnab is singing from a busy metro.
I think this fails to capture the essence of the Bhawaiya song. Not to undermine, the two songs together form an excellent composition and do echo the message it is supposed to, "The void created in one's heart due to separation from loved one". But it fails to narrate the perspective of "O Ki Ekbar Ashiya".
"O Ki Ekbar Ashiya" was composed by Abbasuddin Ahmed, a legendary folk song composer hailing from North Bengal. Bhawaiya songs, traditionally, speak of pain and separation from love with elongated tones of accentuating pain. The background of this tone lies in the place of origin of the Bhawaiya songs, North Bengal. North Bengal is one of the poorest regions of Bengal. The reason is that this region suffers from acute drought. It has a local name "Monga".
This drought occurs two times per year, in September-November and in March-April. At this time, workers from these regions, largely male, migrate to cities to look for cheap labor-intensive jobs.
Most Bhawaiya song bases the separation of love on this migration. As the male earner leaves the household during a month of scarcity, a void is created in his heart, echoed in the crying tune of Bhawaiya songs. Even in "O Ki Ekbar Ashiya" it seems that the narrator is not in his homeland, close to his loved one. The last line clearly expresses this,
"কোড়া কান্দে কুড়ি কান্দে
কান্দে বালি হাঁস
ওরে ডাহুকি কান্দনে ও মুই ছাড়নু ভাইয়ার দ্যাশ রে.."
The narrator has left his hometown and the emptiness in his heart resonates with the separation from a loved one.
Don't get me wrong, both the songs speak "the language of love and yearning for the loved ones..."
But in the midst of all this, we should not miss the essence of "O Ki Ekbar Ashiya", a simple village folk swayed by fate to leave his love for the pursuit of a livelihood.
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