Bhupen Hazarika was born on 8 September 1926 in Sadiya, Assam. His father was Nilkanta Hazarika and Mother was Shantipriya Hazarika. He was the eldest son of their ten children. He had completed his early education from Sonaram High School in Guwahati, Dhubri and 1940, he had completed his matriculation from Tezpur High School. In 1942, he had completed his Intermediate Arts from Cotton College, in 1944 B.A and in 1946 M.A in Political Science from Banaras Hindu University. He then worked at All India Radio, Guwahati where he won a scholarship from Columbia University, New York and completed his Ph.D. in Mass Communication. He completed his doctoral degree on thesis "Proposals for Preparing India's Basic Education to use Audio-Visual Techniques in Adult Education'. From Chicago University, USA, he received the Lisle Fellowship also. Bhupen Hazarika, at Columbia University, was greatly influenced by Paul Robeson who was a civil rights activist and he composed a song namely 'Bistirno parore' which was based on the imagery and theme of Robeson's ‘Ol Man River'. In the third All Assam conference of IPTA, Bhupen Hazarika served as the Secretary of the Reception Committee. At the Gauhati University, he served as a teacher but after a few years, he left his job and shifted to Kolkata. He is also acknowledged to have introduced the culture and folk music of Assam and Northeast India to Hindi cinema at the national level. He received the National Film Award for Best Music Direction in 1975. Bhupen Hazarika’s songs, written and sung mainly in the Assamese language by himself, are marked by humanity and universal brotherhood and have been translated and sung in many languages, most notably in Bengali and Hindi. His songs, based on the themes of communal amity, universal justice and empathy, have become popular among the people of Assam, besides West Bengal and Bangladesh.
He died on November 5, 2011. “Bhupen Hazarika, who called himself a cultural nomad, believed in building bridges between communities and countries divided by political .