Guwahati, Sept 10: What makes Zubeen Garg’s much-loved Mayabini Ratir Bukut distinctive may not be an unusually different voice or exceptionally high notes, but the way he coordinated and controlled his voice throughout the song.
Born in Tura, Meghalaya, Zubeen Garg went on to become one of the most influential voices of Assam and the Northeast. A singer–songwriter, composer, actor, and philanthropist, he left behind a legacy that transcended borders and languages.
A new study published in the Journal of Voice has used acoustic analysis to examine Garg’s performance, focusing on pitch, loudness, vocal resonance and the interaction between the vocal source and vocal tract.
The study, led by Kishore Dutta of Handique Girls’ College, Guwahati, compared Mayabini Ratir Bukut with 11 other recordings involving five singers—Zubeen Garg, Bhupen Hazarika, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar and KK. The findings show that Mayabini is not an acoustic outlier; its distinctiveness emerges more clearly in the way its vocal characteristics change over time.
The researcher found a significant and sustained relationship between fundamental frequency (F0) and the first formant (F1), one of the main resonances of the human voice. Of the four formants examined, F1 was the only one to show this consistent relationship across all three sections of the song.
The study also identified repeated instances of formant tuning, where the vocal tract’s resonant frequencies moved closer to the upper harmonics of the sung note during prominent moments. Such tuning has previously been documented mainly in classical and operatic singing, making its presence in a continuous popular song notable.
The researcher further found that formant frequencies were strongest mainly in the middle section of the song. Loudness, spectral roughness and pitch also did not peak simultaneously, suggesting that Garg built intensity through the controlled timing of different vocal features rather than one single climax.
In the comparison of 12 recordings, Mayabini did not stand apart primarily through timbre or dynamics. Instead, its distinctive character was linked to its temporal arrangement and the consistency of Garg’s vocal control.
The researcher says the findings provide an acoustic account of how Garg sang the song, rather than an explanation of its wider emotional or cultural impact. The work also opens scope for further research combining phonetics, acoustics, musicology and linguistics.
The paper, titled “Formant and Source-Filter Coordination in a Culturally Iconic Vocal Performance: Mayabini Ratir Bukut,” was accepted for publication on August 17, 2026, and appears in the Journal of Voice. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvoice.2026.08.022
