Kacha Badam: the song was selling something.

Kacha Badam was quite clear about what was on offer. Bhuban Badyakar was selling untoasted peanuts, and his song told customers they could pay in cash or kind. Before anybody needed a dance step, he needed people to notice the goods.

The Quint’s February 2022 interview (opens in a new tab) places that working song in West Bengal’s Birbhum district. It had a purpose in the place where he sold peanuts before it acquired a much larger audience on phones.

That makes the original worth hearing with the sales pitch in mind. The melody wasn’t waiting for a use. It already had one.

People were recording him before he knew where it would go

Badyakar told the Quint that people had recorded him singing, but he didn’t know who had uploaded the version that spread. His uncertainty is a good reason to leave the first uploader unidentified rather than appointing one from an appealing repost caption.

The song then travelled through remixes and, in the wider 2022 wave, dance clips. Someone could learn the point at which to move without knowing much about the person whose voice was supplying the cue.

That is easy to recognise from the experience of hearing a sound repeatedly. You know the tune before you have asked what the words mean. You may even be able to anticipate the next phrase while remaining unable to name the singer.

For Badyakar, the distance between those two kinds of recognition mattered. The Quint reported an early lack of credit or payment as versions circulated, followed by greater personal attention and performance opportunities.

Being recognised didn’t answer every practical question

The same interview described continuing financial difficulty. The account doesn’t support a simple story in which a widely used song immediately made its singer secure. He could be pleased about the response and still have bills to meet.

It is tempting to look at a familiar sound and assume the person who made it must be benefiting every time it appears. A viewer doesn’t normally see the arrangements behind the clip. Knowing a voice isn’t the same as knowing who has been paid.

There were later complications too. In a March 2023 OTTplay interview (opens in a new tab), Badyakar alleged that an agreement had taken away rights and restricted his own use of the song. Those were his reported allegations, rather than a court’s findings. The interview doesn’t settle the dispute or establish its present status.

It does complicate the idea that the story had reached a comfortable ending when people learned his name.

Listen to what the song was asking for

The reel version can be remembered as a tune with a movement attached. The earlier version was a vendor finding a memorable way to describe what he sold. Both are part of the history, but the second gives you the person and the practical ingenuity behind the first.

There is no need to make his experience a neat warning or a guaranteed success story. Recognition, paid work and control over a song can develop very differently.

Badyakar made a sales call that people wanted to hear again. Remembering his name is useful; listening to the words also lets you remember that he was trying to sell some peanuts.