Tumi aar nei she tumi is a song that traces it's vintage to the 50s and unlike a typical SD Burman song it does not sit as heavy on your emotional listening experience. Lyrically, the song speaks of the feeling of loss in the heart of a young lover who finds his object of affection to have changed her attitude towards him. Though he is at a loss to say why, there are small things that point to a wane in her old attraction for him. This basic theme is developed into a beautiful, wistful lament by the writer Gauri Prasanna Majumdar. Sachinda's singing adds on a childlike anxiety which is very typical to him.

Along with being musically engaging, this song is a great showcase of Burman's patented minimalism. Using the traditional light classical paradigm, Dada makes very eloquent use of just three elements to create the required mood. The tabla, a few scattered strings and the most powerful tool.. his own voice. When it came to giving expression to a tune, Sachin Dev Burman occupied a high-ground that was in the reach of very few. The high emotional intensity, delicate and spontaneous nuances and a topping of some totally unpredictable, almost whimsical touches made his presentation delightfully unusual and potent.

Here he imparts an affectionate, demanding restlessness to the whole proceedings and as usual, he does that with just a few masterly strokes. His comrade-in-arms for in this mission is the celebrated tabla nawaz Brijen Biswas(see below ). Biswas with his succinct tabla-work matches Burman's vocals stroke for stroke and together they paint a canvas which not only has depth and pathos and but is also vibrant at the same time.

While conventional wisdom suggests that it's best to leave you to your own devices to figure out what you like the best in this song, I cannot resist the temptation to turn your attention towards a few tingling flavours that delight this musical epicure. 

- The restlessness that is mentioned before is brought out very eloquently each time the song returns to the mukhda. Note how the tabla pace picks up and the intensity in Dada's voice goes up even though he(dada) maintains the same pace in singing. And then as soon as the mukhda gets over the pace suddenly falls back. The effect is that of rising anxiety which suddenly flops down as though in temporary resignation.

- Dada's special technique of slightly elongating a word(or syllable) is employed to devastating effect in the portion tumi aa~~r, tumi aar, tumi aar… Equally devastating is the way he varies the phrase tumi aar.

- The minuscule pause in the line Tumi aar nei she ~~~ tumi… uhmmm.. delectable.

One could go on forever. Songs such as this one reveal a new facet in each time you revisit them. The beauty of the song slowly unfolds in each subsequent hearing. The more you hear it the more you like it. Now, isn't that, a good reason to play this song once more?

Press F5(Refresh your browser) to listen to the song again !!

Side Notes

- The tune for this song is one of those few tunes, vocalised in Bengali by Burmanda, that does not find a readily available counterpart in Hindi. This tune finds reflection in the cancelled Geeta solo from Paying Guest.. Gaye ghabra ke mil. (Note: this song is available in the downloads section for some time)

- Brijen Biswas was a master tabla player and was closely associated with SD Burman from his early days. He also was RD Burman's first guru. Brijen Biswas shared Dada Burman's compulsive love for folk music. They collaborated for a number of memorable songs like Jhilmil jhilmil jheeler jale, Mono dilo na bandhu and ofcourse Tumi aar nei se tumi.

Extras

Lyrics in Bangla    Hindi Translation    English Translation

See Also

Shop for Sachin Deb Burman's Bangla music online here. This music comprises of his early output

http://www.saigan.com/hmp/ip6007.htm
http://www.saigan.com/hmp/ip6049.htm
http://www.saigan.com/hmp/ip6005.htm

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. Arunabha Roy for his kind help with the translations.