Have you ever come across an African man who sings Hindi and Bengali songs perfectly? If you scroll for music covers on Instagram, chances are you have come across Atik Blues, who has his social media followers intrigued by his perfect pronunciation, and the feel he brings to classic and new Indian songs.
Steve Pathé Zoutenn — ‘Isse ‘Zu-10’ pronounce karte hain,’ (pronounced Zu-10) he writes on his Instagram profile — is a software developer born in the Central African Republic and living in Canada. On social media, he goes by Atik Blues, and strums his guitar crooning Rabindrasangeet, Bangla band songs, and Bollywood numbers!
Inspired by Mithun da and Bappi Lahiri
Zoutenn was just five years old when he was introduced to Indian cinema.While he didn’t understand much of the dialogues, he fell in love with the soundtrack of the film, which resonated with him even at that age. The movie? A hit Mithun Chakraborty number!
“I remember very clearly my first experience of Indian music,” said the 37-year-old Montreal resident. “My brother took me to the movies when we lived in the Central African Republic and I did not understand anything through the movie. But when the songs came on I started understanding a bit because of the actions and the rhythm. That is a movie I will never forget — Bappi Lahiri and Mithun da’s Disco Dancer.”
Zoutenn moved to Canada for his masters in computer sciences in 2008 and has been there ever since. He used to have a band during his college days, but as work started keeping him busy later, he gave up music and put his guitar away. Until the pandemic lockdowns began.
“During lockdown, I had the time and decided that I must learn something. I had attempted to learn Hindi several times but never got through more than a few days before giving up. During lockdown I looked at different apps and found a teacher who was giving Hindi classes so I enrolled and got through the whole course,” said Zoutenn about picking up his first Indian language.
The singer is now fluent in Hindi and pretty good when it comes to reading and writing as well. After learning the language Zoutenn felt he should utilise it somehow and his lost passion for music was creeping back in now that the lockdown gave him more time to himself.
“During that period after learning Hindi I suddenly remembered the music from Disco Dancer and realised that I had always wanted to sing Indian songs, so I slowly started picking it up and started posting on Instagram.”
He created an Instagram page in January 2022 and started posting reels of him singing popular numbers. The first cover he posted was of Tujhe Dekha Toh Yeh Jaana Sanam. “If I look back at it now, it’s not that great but I’m happy to see my own progress,” he said.
Falling in love with Tagore and Bengali music
Zoutenn, who had met several Bengalis and Bangladeshis throughout his time in Canada, loved the language and added it to his list of things to pick up. He watched Stories of Rabindranath Tagore on Netflix and fell in love with the Rabindrasangeet Amaro Porano Jaha Chay. He knew he had to sing it but he wanted to get it right so he watched and listened to several versions on YouTube before playing it out on his guitar.
“That song got me into Bengali music and soon became the reason I started learning the language as well,” said Zoutenn about the start of his love affair with Bengali music.
He realised that the translated English lyrics of songs would not help get the pronunciation of the Bengali words right, so he started learning Bangla properly. He has a mentor now who helps him once every two weeks with what he needs to learn. “I am still learning. I can read and write a bit and most of the time I go back and forth between the original Bangla lyrics and the translated version.”
Not only music, Zoutenn has a taste for Indian and Bengali food as well. His favourite Indian dish is murgir jhol, a dish he picked up from a friend’s family recipes, and also something he cooks for himself.
Sharing his music online
The Atik Blues profile on Instagram has over 22k followers and he receives a lot of love from Indians, especially people from Kolkata and Bengal, who praise his singing, and the feelings and efforts he puts behind every song.
So how long does he need to practise before posting one of his videos? “It takes me anywhere between a week to two weeks to be comfortable enough with a song before I record it,” said the singer. He listens to the same song on loop until he knows its in his head and then works on the pronunciations of each word. There are also rehearsal sessions before the final video goes up on Instagram or YouTube.
“I sing to a few of my friends who will correct me with a particular word, but most of the time they say it’s perfect so I then record it and post on Instagram.” Zoutenn’s latest Bengali song is a rendition of Anjan Dutt’s Bela Bose which he practised for nearly 20 days before he released it online.
Apart from Hindi and Bengali, he has also sung songs inMarathi, Kannada, Bhojpuri and even Nepali. Zoutenn has promised himself that he will sing more and post more on Instagram, because the love he is receiving makes him feel like he needs to give the audience what they want. “I receive a lot of requests, I never say yes directly because I don’t want to disappoint but I try to fulfil each request.”
Having loved the culture and the languages from afar, it is Zoutenn’s dream to visit the subcontinent to witness the culture. West Bengal, Bangladesh and Nepal are on his bucket list.
