Singer Rupam Islam is no stranger to trying his hand at poetry. The Fossils frontman’s 10th book and second poetry compilation, Neelabho Ek, Needrabondor, was launched on December 14 as part of the Kolkata Centre for Creativity’s recently-concluded AMI Arts Festival, held from November 21 to December 22. The festival, meant to be a celebration of the arts and all those people who contribute to it in the city, saw an amalgamation of artistes come together over the course of the month for panel discussions, performances, exhibitions and more. Islam’s book launch was held at a packed KCC Amphitheatre, filled with a crowd that sang their hearts out to popular Fossils numbers after the launch of the book. The launch itself had Islam reflecting on what inspires him to keep writing, what poetry means to him, and how, to him, it is separate from the music he makes.
Rupam discussed his affinity for poetry in general, and how his ambitions keep him striving for more when it comes to his own creativity. “Poetry and music are separate to me. I work harder on songs than I do on poetry because it is only while writing poetry that I pen down whatever comes to my mind the exact way it does. Creating music requires a lot of fine-tuning: It is not as easy as people think,” he shared at the launch.
When asked about the unusual name of the anthology, Rupam had a far deeper, more profound answer to give. “The name of the book immediately brings to mind themes like running away, tiredness and sleep. These are all recurring motifs in my writing, and it is based on personal experience. Even the blue of the (book) cover comes from personal experience, which again stems from a desire I have to run away. I want to be as close to the sky as possible. It is true that I haven’t created space rock in music yet but thematically I have always taken shelter and respite from the sky. You will see this in my other books and in most of my music. I have this eternal desire to find the sky in everything I do or touch, and through the sky I try to find freedom.
“I have always wanted to run away,” he continued, “Because I could not see the sky from where I used to live previously, and I really wanted to see the sky from home. So I started feeling suffocated and I felt like I had to break out of that cage. That breaking has come about in various forms. I am, before anything else, an artiste, so music helped me take the first steps towards that breaking. All that screaming and jumping around that I do is because I am fighting an invisible adversary that resides within me; something that is part of me because it has entrapped me for so long. And as I grow older, I realise that that adversary is my life itself…. That is why I continue to write, to make music — because I am still trying to break free, still trying to escape,” he said.
The launch was followed by the singer singing some of his most well-known tracks, like Aadomer shontaan and Chnadnite unmaad ekjon that had fans singing and clapping along, bringing the evening to a lyrical close.
