Thursday, September 10, 2009

Rabindranath Tagore and Western Music

It was exhilarating to receive a mail recently from one of my college-mates who is now working as a consultant psychiatrist in the United Kingdom.It was refreshing because Music was the subject of our discussion.

 

I know that my friend used to play the sitar during our college days though I am not sure whether she finds time now to pursue the music of her passion.Her daughter is taking lessons in piano and violin – she has written. In the mail ,my friend has mentioned about a situation which,if one delves a little deeper to discuss,throws some refreshing light into an aspect of Rabindra Sangeet which I feel has remain neglected over the years through all the research,debates and discussions Tagore's songs and music have been subjected to by luminaries in the field of music.

 

It so happened that during her last trip to India,Kolkata to be precise,my friend had discovered some invaluable sheets of music containing conventional Western classical stave notations of a number of Rabindranath Tagore's songs,Rabindra Sangeet – as they are popularly known all over the world.And she had taken the written music back to UK for her daughter to have a go at.It seems her daughter's music teacher is facing a strange predicament with the lessons in front of the piano.I guess the music teacher is feeling the same intrigue which has blighted many a Western musician.I'll beg to go a little deep into this.

 

In Tagore's songs there are a segment of songs which the master himself has loosely clubbed as "Scotch Bhupali" in his memoirs(Chhinno-Potro)- a rather queer name.These songs do not follow the notes of the Bhupali Raaga at all.Regarding the Scotch part,I guess he had the traditional Scotttish Highland music in mind from which he has drawn inspiration to compose a lot of songs throughout his life.e.g. Auld Lang Syne has given birth to 2 different compositions at 2 different phases of his life - Purano Shei Diner Katha and Anandaloke Mangalaloke Birajo .{I must add here that Auld Lang Syne was penned don in Old Irish by Robert Burnes as a poem but a Scottish cobbler who remains anonymous to history till date "transformed" the poem into the song that we all know of by attaching a traditional Scottish tune at least 300 hundred years older.I guess during Burnes' time the cultural boundary between Scotland and Ireland was much more blurred(and healthily so.)}The latter was composed when the poet was in his late 20s,and during this phase the compositions of  Jyotirindranath,his elder brother(who had really goaded Rabindranath into serious music compositions),seem to have influenced Tagore's compositions to a great extent.

 

Jyotirindranath himself was a talented and a prolific composer,though the philosopher was never really keen on publishing and popularising his own music and he kept his efforts mainly to compose prayer-songs - Brahma Sangeet which he has composed in hundreds.One can find a deep influence of Scottish Highland music in these compositions.This effect has seeped through to Tagore's music,both individual compositions and the dance-dramas penned in his youth like Tasher Desh and Balmiki Pratibha .

 

The brilliance of Tagore becomes easily perceptible when one discovers how the composer has adopted Western note patterns(read traditional Scottish) in the more intricate 'Tagorised' patterns of  "Taal" and "Loy".In all the songs,the right hand(on piano reeds)goes out of its way to give shape to the subtle nuances and the left hand seems to hold the corresponding chords.But Tagore has kept a silent but vast scope for the left hand to create impromptu ornamentations and inspired improvisations  - an aspect unfortunately overlooked by many music maestros of Shantiniketan.Here I cannot but mention another Indian stalwart.One has to just listen to the piano rendition of  Phoole Phoole Dhole Dhole ,Satyajit Roy has used in his movie Charulata as background score in 2 different situations.Roy has played the piano himself here and one can pick up the brilliant rendition he has brought out, ably and aptly recognising the scope for individual ornamemtative improvisations Tagore has left behind.

(The puritans who have and still try to harness Tagore's music in disciplines too strict,don't seem to have identified Tagore's message - he believed in Inspirations,and has subtly and silentlyleft behind his message for subsequent generations to follow.Regrettably Bishwa Bharati hasn't done justice to this unique facet of Rabindra Sangeet.I might be hanged in public by Shantiniketan puritans for this comment though!But sadly Tagore's music in printed and published  Western classical stave notation remains chained.That's not the spirit for which the Great Poet stood for.) 

 

Perhaps it is a little too demanding to expect a British music teacher to understand  Tagore's silent message left behind so philosophically in and for his music.But I'm sure my friend's daughter will be able to "feel" Tagore's music the more she spends time with 'him' and his music.And it would be wonderful to listen to her one day,playing Sokhi Bhabona Kahare Bole or perhaps Jyotsna Raate Shobai Gachhe Bone on piano without Western stave notations,both her hands free,as free as she shall be feeling inside,understanding Tagore's philosophy of Freedom of Spirit.

 

My blessings remain with the budding musician.

10 comments:

  1. Hi Anirban,

    Well written article , we (my daughter and me), too underwent the same predicament but have managed to somewhat figure out the piano notation for "purono sei diner kotha" based on some book I found from a old/used book seller in Calcutta. My daughter's much acclaimed Russian pianist (Scholar) teacher went berserk trying to sort the notation.
    Thanks for sharing your story.
    Sanhita Sensarma

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  2. Dear Anirban

    These are really interesting. Auld Lang Syne is really interesting and as such it is so appealing that I have put this as my Ring tone.

    Sutanu Sinha
    New Delhi

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  3. I was googling to see if I could find Rabindrasangeet written in western notation, and I found your post. It was wonderful reading this post, and I did get to learn a little more about Tagore and his compositions. I guess these random searches help bloggers to meet randomly, and that is just wonderful! Well, my wish or rather my dream is to put some of Tagore's songs on western notation so that more and more people all over the world can experience Rabindrasangeet.

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  4. Can anyone post a "complete list" of Tagore's songs, based/inspired from western music ? Please mention both the full-songs, song-composers & notations/sargams of both.

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  5. Good article. But the fact stated regarding "Anandaloke Mangalaloke" having been infuenced by Bunrs' "Auld Lang Syne" is incorrect. "Anandaloke Mangaloke" had been tuned under the influence of "Kayou Sri Gouri Karuna Lahari", a South Indian composition.

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  6. Hi Anirban,
    I do agree with Sounak Gupta that "Anandoloke mongolaloke" had been tuned under the influence of South Indian composition (a song from Mysore).

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  7. All four song I listen deeply, nothing has differentiate only wonder I believe.

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  8. Dear Sir,

    Even I ran into your wonderful post while Googling to get some authentic information on this topic for my blog, like a previous reader. It is a fact that the range of western classical music is so vast that someone with genuine training in this genre is capable of mastering almost any form of music, which of course includes Robindroshongit. I myself have tried to experiment with songs written by the Poet on the piano, and when correctly played the result is indeed very satisfying.

    Somewhere deep down, at a level comprehension not many are able to achieve, all music is probably united, and the distinctions exist only in our minds... And it can take a lifetime to reach such a level of understanding!
    Your post was a really wonderful read, not to mention informative as well, and I loved it. Thank You!

    Angshuman Pal

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