Why Assam still weeps for Zubeen Garg a month after his death

In Kamarkuchi, a small village on the outskirts of Guwahati whereZubeen Garg, the Assamese cultural icon, was cremated with full state honours on September 23, a young volunteer hesitantly agreed to speak to a local television journalist last Sunday.

His voice, a blend of exhaustion and reverence, trembled as prayers echoed behind him at the cremation site, draped in garlands, ‘gamosas’ (a traditional Assamese white cloth with red borders and motifs) and images of Zubeen, whose death at the age of 52 on September 19 left his homeland in a state of shock and despair.

With a bead of sweat on his face, the young volunteer says he is ready to serve the visitors at the cremation site for the rest of his life. “I have come here voluntarily from Nagaon (a town in central Assam),” he said, barely raising his voice above a whisper.

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Among the people was a group of female volunteers who continued to clap and sing a prayer as though the departed singer had become a deity.

A few yards away, hundreds of fans sang Zubeen’s classic, Mayabini Ratir Bukut (In the heart of a magical night), behind a couple of musicians who had temporarily set up their equipment.

Even a month after Zubeen died by drowning in a tragic accident in Singapore, thousands of mourners — cutting across age groups and religions —still throng Kamarkuchi every day, turning a cremation site into a place of pilgrimage.

These surreal scenes, a month after the death of a singer who was known only for one Bollywood hit — Ya Ali — outside of Assam, have now compelled several global media giants, including the BBC, Al Jazeera, and The Independent, to dive deep into this ocean of collective grief.

Among all the artists, only Michael Jackson’s final journey brought more people to the streets than the 1.5 million souls that flooded Guwahati roads when Zubeen’s body was brought from the airport to the city.

“But we had never seen a star whose death was mourned for so long,” Sunita Bhuyan, an accomplished Mumbai-based Indian violinist, told Khaleej Times.

More than a singer

Zubeen wasn’t Michael Jackson, the most famous musical icon in human history, by any stretch of the imagination. But the Assamese singer, songwriter and composer became the beating heart of his people with his genre-defining music.

Zubeen was also an unfiltered celebrity who raised his voice fearlessly on socio-political issues, defied diktats from insurgents, donated almost everything he earned to the poor, played in charity football matches in far-flung places to raise money for flood victims, led protests against unsustainable development projects and turned his house into a Covid Centre just months after he survived a serious health scare.

A Muslim cleric recalled how the singer, who was born in a Hindu Brahmin family, once donated 700,000 rupees he earned from a concert to a Madrasa for orphans in the wee hours of a morning.

In a polarised world, Zubeen’s countless acts of humanity have led to unprecedented scenes following his death, as people of all faiths have come together to pay homage to a truly one-of-a-kind artist.

Politics after the tragedy

But even as grief united people, politics has reared its ugly head again. The Himanta Biswa Sarma-led state BJP government is now locked in a bitter feud with the opposition leaders over the investigation into Zubeen’s death in Singapore.

Zubeen was scheduled to perform at the Northeast India Festival in Singapore last month, but he died during a yacht party.

With a history of epileptic seizures, Zubeen had been advised by doctors to stay away from water. But upon seeing his manager Siddharth Sharma and band member Shekhar Jyoti Goswami swim, the maverick singer jumped in the water and drowned.

Singapore police have ruled out foul play, but the grief-stricken public in Assam demanded a water-tight investigation as people believe Zubeen’s death was the result of gross negligence by his manager and Shyamkanu Mahanta, the chief organiser of the festival.

Mahanta was not at the yacht party. But many people believe it was Mahanta’s responsibility to ensure the safety of Zubeen, who was also the brand ambassador of his festival in Singapore.

The ongoing investigation has now led to a political mud-slinging between the government and the opposition leaders as Chief Minister Sarma accused the Congress party of using Zubeen’s death to turn Assam into Nepal — where a deadly protest turned life upside down last month — ahead of the state assembly elections in April 2026.

Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi hit back at the government, alleging that the SIT (Special Investigation Team) was instructed by the chief minister to ‘hide his links’ with Mahanta, who is now also facing an investigation for alleged financial misconduct.

Media leaks

With mounting pressure for justice from the public and Zubeen’s wife, Garima Saikia Garg, the Assam government is facing its moment of truth, with the opposition waiting to pounce on any mistake from the BJP ahead of the assembly elections.

Garima Saikia Garg

“What has made the situation worse is the unverified news. Almost everything that the arrested people said in their statements (at the SIT office) was leaked to the media. I am surprised because it’s not allowed at all. The whole procedure is wrong,” Junmoni Devi Khaund, a senior advocate at Guwahati High Court, told the Khaleej Times.

Nitumoni Saikia, a prominent television journalist in Guwahati, was blunt while analysing the government’s handling of the situation and how the opposition is jumping on every opportunity to gain a political advantage.

“I have no words to describe these dirty political games from our leaders. It’s shameful,” Saikia told the Khaleej Times. “Zubeen was always above politics. His music was acelebration of the rich cultural diversity of Assam,and his door was always open for the poor people who needed help. It’s heart-wrenching to see his death become the political battleground for the next elections.”

Rising in the dark

In the 1990s, when India began to enjoy the fruits of a groundbreaking decision by the then government to open up the country’s market, Sachin Tendulkar emerged as a cricketing phenomenon.

While India’s newfound economic freedom coincided with Tendulkar’s epoch-making journey, Assam was unable to break free from the shackles of violent separatist movements.

Kidnapping, extortion, and targeting innocent civilians became the norm. To counter the terror threats, Assam’s state government allegedly resorted to a secret killing mission when unknown assailants killed family members of insurgents in the dead of the night.

It was against this grim backdrop that Zubeen emerged as a prodigious young singer, songwriter and composer in the 1990s with an unconventional and refreshing style of music that seamlessly blended Western rhythms with traditional sounds.

With one record-breaking album after another, the fresh-faced boy with long hair became a phenomenon, producing a string of classics in different genres as his powerful vocals reverberated across a state reeling from the deadly conflict between insurgents and Indian armed forces.

But Zubeen also became a target when the United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa), the self-anointed guardians of traditional ethos, reportedly threatened to kill him for his rockstar looks and New Age music.

In his inimitable style, Zubeen responded with goosebump-inducing masterpieces that mocked the cowardly acts of killing innocent people by insurgents.

“When he first emerged, Assam was going through a very tough period and people needed something to hold onto, some happiness and his music gave them a sense of hope,” Joi Barua, an accomplished Mumbai-based Assamese and Bollywood singer and composer, told the Khaleej Times.

Joi Barua with Zubeen

“He was the son of the soil who was born with an original mind and original talent. He also had pride in the place he was born, and that reflected in his music, which was culturally beautiful with beautiful language. He was the breakthrough talent who became the symbol of Assamese pride.”

In the pantheon of legends

A week after Pakistani band Khudgarz rose above the political tensions between India and Pakistan with a beautiful tribute to Zubeen when they sang Ya Ali and got the crowd to sing along during a live concert in Karachi, Indian composer Vishal Dadlani admitted that Bollywood had failed to recognise the true brilliance of Assam’s beloved son.

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But Sasanka Samir, an Assamese filmmaker who wrote the lyrics for the last song composed by Zubeen — just a week before his death — for the upcoming film, Roi Roi Binale, revealed that his idol was never bothered by how the Hindi film industry treated him in Mumbai.

“His Ya Ali (from the 2006 movie Gangster) became a cult hit, but they (Bollywood) rarely gave him great songs after that. When he came back (from Mumbai), he never showed any frustration because in his heart, there was always this great desire to sing in his language and bring the Assamese movie industry back from the brink of death,” Samir told the Khaleej Times.

“He worked tirelessly for that not only as a musician, but also as an actor and a filmmaker. As an Assamese artist, it was so inspiring. He was also unique musically; he could write, sing, compose, play multiple instruments, arrange music and do mixing and mastering. He could single-handedly bring out an album. You know, sometimes I feel that if Michael Jackson had met Zubeen Garg, even the King of Pop would have been amazed by the insane talent our hero was born with!”

Violinist Sunita Bhuyan, who had slammed the national media for calling Zubeen merely the “Ya Ali singer” following his death, was stunned by his depth of knowledge.

“He knew that I came from a classical background, so he spoke about Yehudi Menuhin. I was shocked because he knew so many little-known facts about Menuhin,” Bhuyan said.

Sunita Bhuyan with Zubeen

“He grew up in small towns in Assam, so it’s amazing how he could figure out different genres of world music. I think Zubeen stands out because he was a genius. The late Bhupen Hazarika (the Assamese cultural colossus) had a great depth of thought, and in the same way, Zubeen had a great depth of music.”

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Remarkably, Bhuyan also drew a parallel between Zubeen and the late sitar maestro Ravi Shankar.

“Zubeen hadn’t really started singing seriously until the age of 18. He was only playing instruments, including the tabla. I really connect his story with Ravi Shankar, you know, because Ravi Shankar was a dancer, and he only started playing the sitar at the age of 18. So people like them are absolute geniuses!”

A true human being

In 1989, Zubeen was only 16 when he would ride his bicycle home every night from a friend’s place in Jorhat, his hometown, singing aloud with his voice echoing through the near-empty streets, adding an air of mystique to the boy behind that voice. Three years later, the same boy would become the voice of Assamese hopes and aspirations.

For Nip Kumar Baruah, a senior television journalist, there will now be a feeling of emptiness in the next Rongali Bihu (Assam’s biggest festival) in April.

“Kuli (Asian koel) will be back singing every morning, but there will be no Zubeen and his golden voice that enthralled thousands of people at Bihu concerts every night,” Baruah said. “The very thought breaks my heart.”

Suraj Verma, a Dubai-based Indian singer who formed a band, Indofuzon, with his brother Sanjay, empathised with the grieving Assamese people.

“His voice was totally different from other singers in Bollywood,” said Suraj, who paid a musical tribute to Zubeen recently on the band’s Instagram page.

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“But an artist like him didn’t need a platform like Bollywood; his music was beyond everything. When thousands of people were crying uncontrollably and singing ‘Mayabini’ at his funeral, it showed the revolutionary cultural impact he had in Assam. He was a true artist and a true human being!”

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