Zubeen Garg felt like his 'birthday' on visit to fan's rare library before Singapore tour

Guwahati, Sept 26: A day before that ill-fated tour to Singapore, Zubeen Garg was in for a surprise-and in words of the legendary singer himself, he felt as if it was his "birthday celebration".

Vishal Kalita, a passionate fan of the icon, had invited Zubeen to inaugurate a library at Hatigaon which houses nearly the entire creations and memorabilia of the legend if not all-from some 10,000 archaic audio cassettes, to audio video CDs and literature, including his books, poems. 'negative' snaps, magazines which carried his interviews et al.

"We had planned the inauguration of the library - Melody Audio House (2G)-in October. But fate had it that it happened on September 16. Zubeen de asked me to do it that day as he had a flight the next day," Kalita, also a musician, told The Assam Tribune.

"He was awestruck at the first glimpse of the library and appreciated it in his own maverick style. I had told him about the idea before, but he probably did not have a hunch about what I was doing. As he moved around, he narrated the stories surrounding each album, and he exclaimed it felt as if it was his birthday that day. He told me 'take care of these... don't give them to anyone," recalled Vishal, still in a melancholic mood.

Vishal had been collecting Zubeen's creations since 1999, travelling to places like Kolkata, Faridabad, Jaipur, Delhi. Kerala besides Amoni, Jakhalabandha and Jorhat in Assam, sometimes even paying as much as Rs 25,000 for an audio cassette in the black market.

"I also visited owners of now-closed audio cassette shops. Of course, some even offered to give me some cassettes free of cost. I also used to collect the discarded posters of the albums from the outlets. One cassette, Sparsh, I brought from Kerala. There was also an accidental find (cassette) in a duck coop at Sarbaibandha in Jorhat. During my childhood days, I used to save my pocket money to buy Zubeen da's cassettes and CDs," said Vishal, who had also sung a duet with the legendary singer in 2020.

In his one-of-its-kind library, the old cassettes are kept in sunlight at regular intervals to ensure that they are not infected by fungus. A few cartons are yet to be opened.

Vishal is also a moving encyclopaedia on Zubeen's works.

"Not many know that Zubeen da lent his voice for a humming in the Hero Honda ad in 2000. His first Bollywood debut was in Purani Kabar in which he sang two songs. We were planning to rectify some information regarding Zubeen da, which are now on Wikipedia," said Vishal, now in his late 20s.

He had plans to create a vinyl record of a few of the popular albums, an idea which he shared with Zubeen. "Let me come back from Singapore," Zubeen had told him.

In fact, it was from the library that Zubeen had shot and streamed a promo of the Singapore event. Vishal won't meet Zubeen again, but is hopeful of digitizing the entire library one day.