You can see Taposh performing at the Rhode Island Heritage Festival in October, and in the meantime you can catch him on Facebook.
Mohitosh Talukder Taposh has worked as an accountant for the city of Providence for more than 20 years.
Mohetosh Taposh: At City Hall, everybody knows me as Taps. “The Indian guy Taps,” you know?
James Baumgartner: And you’re not Indian, you’re from Bangladesh – these are two different countries!
Taposh: Right, right, right.
And while Taposh makes a living working for the city, his true passion is making music. He sings and plays the harmonium. It’s a small wooden box about the size of an accordion, and like an accordion it has a bellows. Taposh pumps the bellows with his left hand while playing a piano-like keyboard with his right. [sound of harmonium]
Over the last few years, he has amassed a Facebook following of tens of thousands of people, as he leads groups singing together in the Bengali language. He got his start when he was six years old.
Taposh: My mom was a widow with four kids. And I was six years old at that time. So my mom couldn’t take me to the football field or cricket field. So my mom teaches me music and I learn. She’s my guru, basically, you know. I learned music from my mum. And when I was 11 years old, the Bangladesh government, they sent me to Sweden to join International Summer Villages.
This led to Taposh becoming something of a child celebrity in Bangladesh in the late 70s and early 80s, when the nation had just one television station. Taposh sings traditional folk music and also what he calls “mass music,” which is both music for the people – for the masses – as well as music sung by a large group, singing the same melody in unison. [music clip]
After coming to America in the 90s, Taposh worked multiple jobs to make ends meet. But he missed making music.
Taposh: And for six months, I went to every school in New England area we know, like Johnson and Wales, RISD, URI, MIT, Harvard, BU. … So physically, I went there and I took the information of who is from Bengal and who has interest to do the music.
In 2003, Taposh used these connections to bring 100 people together to sing “1,000 Years of Bengali Music” at MIT’s Kresge Auditorium. This led to more and more concerts around the region over the last 20 years. Earlier this year, Taposh brought a group to sing in New York City’s Times Square.
Taposh: They celebrated the Bengali New Year on 14th April, early in the morning, and I was the music conductor. And we had like more than 200 performers.
So how does he bring hundreds of people together to sing? He says it comes down to friendship.
Taposh: I don’t want to be a teacher. I’m not a teacher, right? I want to be a friend. When I meet someone, I bring them in my house, as to feed them free food. And then at one point, they’ll be my friend, and then let’s do party. And when I do party, let’s do music.
Taposh now has a huge following on Facebook. He attributes his initial popularity to a video he posted in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taposh: So Saturday morning, I was having coffee, Mom just wake up and I said “let’s sing together.” And somehow, Mom said, okay. … And Mom said, “Do not post on Facebook,” and I said “No way.” But of course, I did that. And that song, within a week on Facebook, it was 1.5 million. And I think it’s not for the quality of the song – it’s like a guy singing with his mom. And I said, “Mom, I love you.”
After we talked, Taposh played a song for me by Lalon Fakir. [music by Lalon Fakir]
Taposh: And the philosophy is like, all of us, we are same. There is no religion, there is no poor or rich, you know, there is no caste system, there is no Hindu or Muslim. All of us, we are human beings and this world belongs to us. So 200 years back, Lalon was singing that song. And still, after 200 years, I am Taposh who is in Rhode Island – I am singing the same song. … I don’t make my own music. I play music and to me, honestly speaking, music is love. And I feel we should spread the love everywhere. … It’s a small revolution, maybe small, very small. But I can see the change. So let’s share the happiness, you know. Let’s give the positive vibes to you, to the next door, to the neighbor, to the society, to the country, to the world.
[music by Taposh]
For The Public’s Radio, I’m James Baumgartner.
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