As a Bengali who grew up in Bengal, Tagore’s songs or Rabindra Sangeet is something that I consider an intrinsic part of my life. Of course I know friends who probably outgrew Tagore’s songs or others who can’t relate to what they consider Tagorean upper class sensibilities. My sister too finds Tagore’s music somewhat contextually confined and has developed more cosmopolitan taste in music (except some renditions by Late Kanika Bandopadhyay the unparalleled exponent of Tagore songs). For me, however, it’s the sheer simplicity of Tagore that I can always relate to. I find most of Tagore’s songs a package of sublime thoughts wrapped in melodious tunes. They have almost all been touched with the magic wand of Tagore’s master craftsmanship when it comes to the poetry and for the musical scores he dips into traditions as diverse as Scottish highland songs to Indian classical and Bengal folk.
My grandmother, who was a grand-niece of Rabindranath had often related to us stories of how he would compose songs within a few minutes – sometimes as gifts for his loved ones on their special days. He had, in fact, written a humourous poem on one of my grandparents’ wedding anniversaries that he had spent with them. Tagore had composed various dance-dramas too – for performances by students of Vishwa Bharati University. He himself supervised these shows which were vibrant musical festivals in Santiniketan with Rabindranath himself as the focal point. But even though Tagore wrote some of his music and his poetry to commemorate day to day events, it’s the universal spirit in his work that has made it immortal. The simplicity of his sublime thoughts often bring solace to those who understand Bengali, even when they are far away from home or suffering from unhappiness and pain.
To end I’ll try a very rough translation of one of my favourite Tagore’s songs:
Diye genu basantero ei gaan khani…
I’m leaving behind this gift of a song of spring for you…
When the year ends, I know you will forget….
…But when another season comes and your eyes moisten over the nostalgia of this song, I consider that reason enough to compose it…
….And then Spring will come again and bring new people into your life and new melodies of life…
Probably when Tagore was talking about new melodies of a new spring, he was crystalball gazing into the present time when the copyrights on his songs have expired and people are free to do what they like with them – creative or otherwise. Who knows, it could be Rabindrik Rock perhaps!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Tagoreana: Sublimity encased in simplicity
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4 comments:
Tagore and simple??? Tagore is deep and passionate contemplation and introspection. There are but a handful in this wide world, who have the ability to capture every nuance of Tagore's penned down thoughts in one single reading. It takes a very high IQ and emotional bandwidth level to understand Tagore's thoughts....don't say it is simple.
As usual a wonderful read... having traveled far frm home, ur posts stir strange memories.. those that make the heart ache over what once was & what i've left behind ...JU's AC Canteen & lobby whose lebu cha always brot the best tutorial outta me, the thrill and mad exhilaration as i'd lie awake listening to the chondipath on mahalaya dawn, the excitement & effort that'd go into planning what to wear on the day we'd visit maddox square (all the hunks were there), the endless arguments with parents before one was granted permission to stay back for the Cactus concert at the OAT during those heady days of Sanskriti, the first time i saw 'pheriwalar mrityu' & realised lit cud indeed transcend boundaries, the tableau outside St Pauls cathedral which we'd stop & admire after midnite mass every 24 dec & which never failed to arouse a quiet sense of awe and calm in me....of course, the jhalmuri...that special flavor that nothing on earth can duplicate.
am gonna stop rambling & sign off with one of my favs:
"ki pai ni, tari hishaab milate mono mor, nohe raaji,
ki pai ni...."
@Anirban: I absolutely agree about the depth of Tagore's philosophy and the many layers of meaning. But dont at all agree that his songs are not universal in their appeal. It's his mastery over his art & craft that makes deep thoughts easily accessible to almost everyone who knows Bengali. His works have withstood the test of time as well. Or imagine after so many years, schoolchildren in suburban Bengal and NRIs in American, everyone feels inspired by his works.
@Driftwood: Your fav Tagore song is very apt...also great to meet another JU alumnus!
Dear Ishani,
Don't get me wrong. I have not said Rabindranath is not universal or uninspirational. But I maintain that to be really able to read between the lines of a Tagore work, one needs high level of IQ and bandwidth, it is not simple. Those who think Rabindranath's Tagore's works are simple and easy to comprehend are either of the same level of IQ and EQ as Tagore himself, or have not understand all the messages that he has tried to convey through any particular piece. Rabindranath, Einstein, Vivekananda, Plato, Aristotle etc. are people of exceptionally high IQ, it is a grwat folly to think that we, mere mortals will easily understand all that they want to say all the time.
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