Answer to the Question

It’s far better to rub your ass (Or preferably some better other) than rubbing a same old topic, on which you have already expressed your views. But recently the attack of words were so relentless and provoking that I could not help my self but to put my fingers on the keyboard again, to write an answer rather than writing an article. I have said in my previous article that Rupam deserved a lot more during his hay days, which does not seem to be going well with some Rupam or more integrally Fossils fans. Hence here comes my answer.

I am neither a fan of Fossils nor of Rupam, I was and am still now and will always be his follower. I have imbibed a lot from him in past one decade though I never met the man. You don’t need to meet and constantly chat with a person to understand what he/she was thinking or what he or she was trying to say. A very good audience can even judge a batsman, just by looking at his eyes, when he will come down the track, if he is really following his moves. Its not psychology, it’s a remote connection beyond science. A good audience and follower can even become a good batsman if he follows one closely, which is not possible being a fan.

Rupam is a master of words, and I can put my bucks down and say that there are very few writers at least in Bengal , who can mix and match vulgarity, pain, emotion and still be classically audible (not being cheap) in their words so beautifully like Rupam. That’s why I said love for Rupam and Fossils is of a different kind, because it hits you or did hit you some where in your subconscious mind and you will never be out of the “Byuha”. In one word Love for fossils is “Na-Hanyate”, i.e. it does not die.

Well I have also mentioned about the honesty of the writer and the composer. Rupam misuses his mastery on words heavily. “Harano Padak” is a brilliant lyric if you look at its concept. However, the way it takes the Mickey out of “Materialism” is not important for me, but how it creates “Jhaal muri” of characters and events across the glob and cultures, keeping Rabindranath Tagore as its pivot surely is. But at the end of the day its basic composition is a shameless copy of “Don’t marry her, fuck me” by beautiful south. Now that hurts me, I don’t know about others. I know, Rupam does get inspired by Beautiful south too often but, there has to be a limit to everything. A track from an album can’t be compared with a “Mone kore Nao”, which is again a copy of “Rotterdam” by the same band, Even the lyrics is some how inspired.

I don’t care whether “Ekla Ghar” is a line to line copy of Chris-de-burgh’s “I’m-not-crying-over-you” lyrically, because its words and there’s something called “poetic license” , but music is surely not the part to plagiarize. The same goes with the intro riff of “barracuda” by a girl band "Heart" and “acid” by fossils.

I was over the moon when I heard F3 would contain “Haspatale”, but when I heard it on disc again after so many years it did hurt. I went back to the covers and found there’s input by deep. I doubt whether taking the intro part of “Arials” by "System Of A Down" came from his “Urbor mostisko”. I always carried so many fond memories of this particular track, but they all got shattered after I heard it recorded. Don’t know when “Bari esho” will get released in an album, but there’s every chance I see, it plagiarizing the intro from “Killing in the name of” by “Rage Against The Machine”.

Now tell me, singing a song like “Dil Kahe” in a cheap Hindi movie, does it go well with Rupam? I don’t want to waste any more words on a song like “Dil Kahe”, because it does not even deserve criticism.

Rupam’s voice is poor now. Yes it’s not up to the mark; and he does too many mistakes now days while recording too. I hear too many “haw” (Bengali alphabet) in his singing. Wherever there’s a tough note, he pushes one “haw” in. EXAMPLE - “Subatash” in “Koto Seetol Subatash” does not sound like a “Subatash”, Rupam cunningly pushes one “Haw” in between instead of breaking it into 3 notes. It’s not just one instance, it happens too often. Every trailing word of each line from “Phire Cholo” deserved a lot more “Harkat”, what Rupam could not pull off. A song which could have been a master piece in Rupam’s Neel rong days was killed badly.

People wave mobiles in live concert of the band, pictures get uploaded on social networking site, with even funnier comments like “Rupam da ke darun lagche” , “deep da chul ta kete nile kyano” and etc. A very calculated strategy of words goes in live concerts whenever there’s lack of strength to be felt. Rupam speaks thousand lines during live concerts and sings a few, people claps; he is happy and so is the new breed. Fossils some how gets lost in the big- jam of funky black shirts and heavy duty accessories. There’s no feelings, no understanding, just mad head banging! Morons feel raunchiness over the title of "Schizophrenic Bra", but they don't understand its actually two parts of our scull, epitomizing our split personality and the tug of war between individualism or "Ekok tontro" and democracy or "Gono-tontro".

When I see now, I think there are very few followers of the man and his group. Its too many fans of fossils now days. It may sound ironical and berserk in the context of basic concept of time and evolution, but these fans are actually giving wings to fly an old dinosaur, which is crooning and churning out some very bad noises, very different from what it used to be doing during its quoted “Fossils” days.