Life is Life because there is music and life is beautiful because poetry adorns it. Music and poetry together have made man’s life delightful on earth, but for them he would have been mired forever in a never-ending struggle for survival and sustenance. Music taught man to speak in a rhythm and also to discover voices in rivers and lakes and trees and wind and clouds and rain. If it were music that made man one with nature, it was poetry that lifted him above nature, so far above that he could challenge Gods. There have been several attempts at combining these two most beautiful of human urges across centuries in all parts of the world. One such attempt happened in India, not very long ago which combined the best of several worlds, and it was Rabindra Sangeet.
Akash bhora surya tara biswabhora pran, Tomar surer dhara jhare jethay tari pare, Tumi kemon kore gan karo he guni, Amar bela je jay sanjhbelate, are some songs of Rabindra Sangeet that talk of solitary contemplation of man. In the same vein and with equal ease, Rabindra Sangeet combines difficult themes of poetry and different moods of man with varied elements of music to produce songs that are at once popular and eclectic. Surprisingly it is able to assimilate musical elements from hindustani classical music, carnatic music, folk songs of India like kirtan, bhatiyali and also from folk songs of Ireland and Scotland, very well. One of the best example of the universal character of rabindra sangeet is its adaptation of popular Scottish poem written by Robert Burns, Auld Lang Syne, when loosely translated means “days gone by” in the form of the song Purano shei diner kotha.
Rabindra sangeet is like lyrical poetry and it may seemingly be difficult for ordinary people to understand the lofty sentiments expressed through this form. No wonder people call it high music and are very protective of this distinctive style of music. However this approach has not prevented rabindra sangeet from becoming popular and it is said that its influence on Bengali culture is more than the influence of Shakespeare on English-speaking world.
Rabindranath Tagore was a great musician apart from being a poet, philosopher, playwright, painter, novelist, academician, institution builder and a great soul. Rabindra Sangeet bears an indelible stamp of his versatile personality. He focused on ragas from rather striking and unexpected perspectives. Some of the movements he had used, though unusual, could not be challenged on counts of beauty and conformity to the raga. Some of these movements were taken from very old and traditional conventions in classical music. One such example is the use of R, G, M, P, D… M G in the opening lines of Shanti karo borishono, based on Rag Tilak Kamod and from this took birth a beautiful, medium tempo (Madhya Laya) sarod composition (gat), an almost forgotten but exceedingly lyrical and romantic usage of Komal Gandhar in the latter part of the opening stanza (sthayee) of the song Oi Janalar dhare. He developed insights into ragas and discovered interesting and unknown corners of known ragas. His deep and penetrating poetic visions often found the tonal colors of old ragas inadequate and so combined some of them to produce masterful creations of unforeseen melodic shades and highest artistic order.
Rabindranath Tagore, the musician is an icon among people of Bengal, India and many other countries. Today there is scarcely a Bengali home that does not sing or attempt to sing his compositions. He continues to be at the vanguard of Indian culture and can only be compared, if any, to Leonardo da Vinci in the world history. In his creation Gitanjali, that won him the Nobel Prize, he calls himself a singer of paeans of praise for God and says:
When thou commandest me to sing it seems that my heart would break with pride; and I look to thy face, and tears come to my eyes. All that is harsh and dissonant in my life melts into one sweet harmony---and my adoration spreads wings like a glad bird on its flight across the sea. I know thou takest pleasure in my singing. I know that only as a singer I come before thy presence. I touch by the edge of the far-spreading wing of my song thy feet which I could never aspire to reach. Drunk with the joy of singing I forget myself and call thee friend who art my lord.
Akash bhora surya tara biswabhora pran, Tomar surer dhara jhare jethay tari pare, Tumi kemon kore gan karo he guni, Amar bela je jay sanjhbelate, are some songs of Rabindra Sangeet that talk of solitary contemplation of man. In the same vein and with equal ease, Rabindra Sangeet combines difficult themes of poetry and different moods of man with varied elements of music to produce songs that are at once popular and eclectic. Surprisingly it is able to assimilate musical elements from hindustani classical music, carnatic music, folk songs of India like kirtan, bhatiyali and also from folk songs of Ireland and Scotland, very well. One of the best example of the universal character of rabindra sangeet is its adaptation of popular Scottish poem written by Robert Burns, Auld Lang Syne, when loosely translated means “days gone by” in the form of the song Purano shei diner kotha.
Rabindra sangeet is like lyrical poetry and it may seemingly be difficult for ordinary people to understand the lofty sentiments expressed through this form. No wonder people call it high music and are very protective of this distinctive style of music. However this approach has not prevented rabindra sangeet from becoming popular and it is said that its influence on Bengali culture is more than the influence of Shakespeare on English-speaking world.
Rabindranath Tagore was a great musician apart from being a poet, philosopher, playwright, painter, novelist, academician, institution builder and a great soul. Rabindra Sangeet bears an indelible stamp of his versatile personality. He focused on ragas from rather striking and unexpected perspectives. Some of the movements he had used, though unusual, could not be challenged on counts of beauty and conformity to the raga. Some of these movements were taken from very old and traditional conventions in classical music. One such example is the use of R, G, M, P, D… M G in the opening lines of Shanti karo borishono, based on Rag Tilak Kamod and from this took birth a beautiful, medium tempo (Madhya Laya) sarod composition (gat), an almost forgotten but exceedingly lyrical and romantic usage of Komal Gandhar in the latter part of the opening stanza (sthayee) of the song Oi Janalar dhare. He developed insights into ragas and discovered interesting and unknown corners of known ragas. His deep and penetrating poetic visions often found the tonal colors of old ragas inadequate and so combined some of them to produce masterful creations of unforeseen melodic shades and highest artistic order.
Rabindranath Tagore, the musician is an icon among people of Bengal, India and many other countries. Today there is scarcely a Bengali home that does not sing or attempt to sing his compositions. He continues to be at the vanguard of Indian culture and can only be compared, if any, to Leonardo da Vinci in the world history. In his creation Gitanjali, that won him the Nobel Prize, he calls himself a singer of paeans of praise for God and says:
When thou commandest me to sing it seems that my heart would break with pride; and I look to thy face, and tears come to my eyes. All that is harsh and dissonant in my life melts into one sweet harmony---and my adoration spreads wings like a glad bird on its flight across the sea. I know thou takest pleasure in my singing. I know that only as a singer I come before thy presence. I touch by the edge of the far-spreading wing of my song thy feet which I could never aspire to reach. Drunk with the joy of singing I forget myself and call thee friend who art my lord.
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