Born on February 14, 1980

Luitkonwar Rudra Baruah died in 1980. He'd composed over 300 songs in Assamese, most of them for films nobody outside Assam had heard of. That didn't matter. In Assam, his melodies were everywhere — weddings, radio, temple festivals. He acted too, but the music outlasted him. He'd started composing at 16, during the last years of British rule, when Assamese cinema barely existed. By the time he died at 54, he'd helped define what Assamese film music sounded like. His songs are still played at Bihu, the Assamese New Year. Most people singing them don't know who wrote them.

Rudra Baruah died in 1980. He'd been the voice of Assamese cinema for three decades — composer, singer, actor, all three at once. He wrote "Bistirno Parore," still the most recognized Assamese song ever recorded. His films played in single-screen theaters across Assam where people knew every lyric. He composed over 300 songs. Most were about the Brahmaputra River, about monsoons, about leaving home and coming back. When he died, radio stations in Guwahati played his music for 48 hours straight. They didn't announce it as a tribute. They just played the songs. Everyone understood.