Lou Majaw (born 1947) is an Indian performing artist from

Shillong Shillong () is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a Indian state, state in northeastern India, which means "The Abode of Clouds". It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the list of most populous cities in ...

who is known for his

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

tribute shows and his lyrics. Born to a poor family, the Majaws could not afford a guitar or a radio. In a friend's house he was introduced to the music of

Bill Haley William John Clifton Haley (; July 6, 1925 – February 9, 1981) was an American rock and roll musician. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and million-sel ...

and

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

, and taught himself the guitar as most boys and girls did in those days. His mother sent him to a boarding school where his love for music grew. Majaw then moved on to

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

(Calcutta) where he sang in bars and pubs for various groups such as the ''Dynamite Boys'', ''Vanguards'', ''Supersound Factory'', and ''Blood and Thunder'', The Meghalaya Love Project. In 1966, Lou was introduced to

's work. Inspired by his music, he later organized a "Dylan's birthday concert" in

on 24 May 1972. Since then he has organized the concert each year on 24 May to pay obeisance to Dylan, with the shows generating national and international interest. On 24 May 2011, Lou Majaw(pronounced Lu Majao) celebrated the 70th birthday of Bob Dylan with a grand concert with one band each from 8 states of North East India. The bands were- Hip Pocket (Kolkata), Alive (Sikkim), D'luzion (Assam), Swraijak (Tripura), Evenflow (Mizoram), Cleave(Manipur), Incipit(Nagaland), Symmetry Clan(Arunachal Pradesh) and Midnight Garden Factor(Meghalaya). On 24 October 2016, Lou Majaw was awarded with the 4th Dr

Bhupen Hazarika Bhupen Hazarika () (8 September 1926 – 5 November 2011) was an Indian playback singer, lyricist, musician, poet, actor, filmmaker and politician from Assam, widely known as ''Sudha Kontho'' (meaning cuckoo, literally "nectar-throated"). His ...

Award by the Governor of

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

for his contribution to music. On a pleasant evening on 4 February 2023, the sprawling verandahs of India Club, one of the most popular haunts of the who’s who in Guwahati witnessedthe unveiling of a new documentary celebrating the life of the iconic musician Lou Majaw. The documentary, called ‘The Platinum Gong’ is a labour of love and passion directed by the well known theatre artist, writer and musician, Sattyakee Dcom Bhuyan and produced by Dipak Chandra Das.https://epaper.assamtribune.com/full-page-pdf/epaper/pdf/2023/03/03/horizon/4731

References

Further reading