TAGORE’S music was not merely another dimension of a multifaceted creative artist. It represented the very essence of his artistic being.¹ Tagore declared that music being the most abstract of all the arts, just as mathematics was in the region of science, musical expression was the purest and most unimpeded form of creative expression.² And it is in his songs that the evolution of the poet from what he called a state of being into one of becoming is best captured.³ 

The sheer genius of Tagore lay in composing music for the thousands of songs that he wrote himself. Many of Tagore’s contemporaries like Kazi Nazrul Islam, D.L. Roy and Atul Prasad Sen had also shown this versatility, but the sheer range and diversity of Tagore’s musical compositions make him unique. Even by western standards such compositions of verse and music by one artist in the genre of the European ‘lieder’ music can be credited to only a handful of composers.

According to Satyajit Ray, the famous film maker, Tagore’s songs, although quintessentially Bengali, were very original. They represented his personality, which grew out of his entire upbringing. Ray wrote: ‘As a Bengali I know that as a composer of songs, Tagore has no equal, not even in the West, and I know Schubert and Hugo Wolf.’⁴ The eminent writer, Buddhadeva Bose had pronounced confidently, ‘Tagore is definitely the world’s greatest lyric genius.’⁵ In other areas of his literary excellence he might have had rivals, but in song composition, he felt, Tagore had sustained over sixty five years a lyric fervour the sophistication of which was only to enhance with age.

 

There was almost a mystic realization in Tagore that he was composing songs at the behest of a superior will force for serving a larger purpose. When he was seized by this musical energy, words and lyrics poured forth unbidden and he remained surprised at what he had himself composed. The unique quality of Rabindrasangeet is its evocative flavour. So steeped in Rabindrasangeet is Bengali consciousness even today that informal gatherings of Bengalis – in India, Bangladesh and in the scattered Bengali diaspora abroad – almost invariably veer towards celebrating Tagore through his songs. When the skies darken with the monsoon clouds or the first spring blossoms appear on fresh green branches, songs from Gitabitan celebrating these very moments are sung with a rare sense of participation and intuitive understanding.

From this point of view, Rabindrasangeet to many takes on the role of a personal religion, a body of knowledge that is strengthening and nurturing in times of personal crises, encouraging and inspiring in moments of weakness, passionate in moments of romantic bliss, healing in moods of romantic despair. This abiding relevance of Rabindrasangeet through the ages is its hallmark as a literary masterpiece. Today in two countries, India and Bangladesh, his songs remain immortalized as national anthems.⁶ 

Tagore felt very grateful for the efforts made by Dutch musicologist Arnold Bake, after he left Santiniketan, to familiarize European audiences with his music.⁷ Rabindranath was conscious that his songs could not find easy recognition in the West. Even within India, while the non-Bengali speaking world recognizes that Tagore’s songs have a certain appeal for their raga based melody, there is the inescapable feeling that without an understanding of the lyrics they tend to sound monotonous.

Tagore had explained candidly to Edward Thompson, ‘It is nonsense to say that music is a universal language. I should like my music to find acceptance, but I know this cannot be, at least not till the West has had time to study, and learn to appreciate our music. They have great beauty. Though they will not be known outside my province and much of my work will be gradually lost, I leave them as a legacy. My own countrymen do not understand. But they will. They are real songs, songs for all seasons and occasions.’⁸ 

 

On the eve of the 150th birth anniversary of Tagore, the task of disseminating the rich wealth of his musical lyrics, particularly among the younger generation, becomes crucial. It would be a pity if the magic in Tagore’s songs, which had kept their parents’ generation in thrall, is not appreciated and understood at all. Not only would a priceless heritage be lost, but we would be poorer for it. Rabindranath was convinced that his songs had introduced a ‘new element’ into Indian music and that song composition, which had been a parallel growth to his poetry, had ‘intoxicated’ him, and was easily his ‘best work’.⁹ 

 

Tagore’s songs covering the entire gamut of human emotions were broadly divided by the poet among several thematic groups – love, devotional, seasons, occasion specific and dance-drama compositions. For Tagore, the beloved and the divine were often interchangeable and, as a consequence, his love songs and devotional songs often tend to overlap. His songs are not couched in any mythological background and are therefore easy to comprehend. Written in simple articulate Bengali, sung with a clear diction which makes the words audible, Tagore’s songs have a direct appeal to the listener who often feels as if the song had been written for him or her. This, I believe, is the greatest strength of Tagore’s songs. Each song is a gem with the perfect balance between lyrics, melody and rhythm.

The listener can draw on whichever song matches his mood – reflecting the prevailing season or consoling those challenged in love, offering strength to those facing life’s tragedies or a song celebrating life’s joyful moments and successes. Singing a Tagore composition that mirrors one’s deepest thoughts, written better than one could possibly have done, and couched in a melody that tugs at the heart strings, becomes at once a therapeutic experience, cathartic and spiritual. It is in this sense that singing Tagore’s songs is like reciting a prayer in a language that one can relate to and in a music which is soulful.¹⁰ And it is this relevance and universal quality that has kept Tagore’s songs alive over the years.

Even hardcore atheists, ideologues and doctrinaires in Bengal can have no quarrel with Tagore’s songs. As celebrated film maker Ritwik Ghatak put it: ‘I cannot speak without Tagore… he has understood what I am and he has put in all the words. I read him and I find that all has been said and I have nothing new to say… It just cannot be helped. You can be angry with him, your can criticize him… but in the final analysis, you will find that he has the last word.’

 

After the Visva-Bharati copyright over the songs of Tagore came to an end in 2001, creative minds have begun exploring various possibilities of using the Tagorean musical inspiration for innovative work. There is of course concern in some quarters that this liberty might prove to be a license for distortion. Many fear that modern fusion music using Tagore’s original melodies largely results in confusion. I personally feel that after the lifting of the stifling requirements of the copyright rules of Visva-Bharati, an opportunity has been provided for some refreshing and innovative work. One can hardly forget how one of the finest singers of Tagore’s songs, Debabrata Biswas, had been prevented from releasing several songs for his album as he was faulted for not adhering to the grammar of the songs, though in the process their soul was stifled.

Rabindrasangeet belongs to a very particular genre of music and Tagore had defined a specific full throated style in which his songs were to be rendered with clear diction. There can be no compromise on this. However, since Tagore’s message is universal, his musical inspiration might encourage creative minds to carry his artistic essence into their own works. Tagore had himself drawn on various sources for his compositions – traditional folk as well as Indian classical; western folk as well as western classical. The windows of his mind were always open to fresh musical impulses and what he finally composed were his own unique creations. In many instances a song of Tagore can combine the echo of a classical raga with an element of folk musical strain while there can be a sudden refrain from a western composition. This is why it is impossible to categorize Tagore. It also explains why some of his songs still continue to strike a chord among audiences across the world.

 

There is also a certain musicality in the words of Tagore’s lyrics. When Gitanjali, for instance, created a stir in the West leading to the award of the Nobel Prize, many did not realize that the poems were in fact songs since they had never heard them sung. This did not prevent western musicians and composers from using the lyrics of Gitanjali for their own songs. Often during his European tours these were sung before Tagore. Rathindranath Tagore was to write that the poet, while encouraging such efforts, often failed to relate to the songs thus composed.

In celebration of the 150th birth anniversary of Tagore this year, several innovative programmes are being organized around his music. Whether these are appealing and aesthetic is for the audience to judge. Like the discerning Indian electorate with its native cunning which guides them to make a rational choice, the Indian audience today has matured significantly. While accepting new approaches, they will reject forthwith any presentation which offends their artistic sense. Purists cannot hold on to Tagore as their own preserve but have to realize that the world has a claim on this universal man and is free to interpret him in any creative way they wish.

Recently, William Radice, the noted Tagore scholar and academic, spoke about how his translation of Tagore’s poem Ananto Prem had triggered off musical creativity among several noted musicians who went on to make independent compositions around the translated lyrics. At the ICCR festival, Tagore Beyond Frontiers, held at Rabindranath Tagore Centre, Kolkata, in December 2009, two renowned Italian artists, Nike Borghese and Karen Shah, presented a series of paintings inspired by the songs and translated lyrics of Tagore. Although they used the Italian countryside and European cultural symbols to illustrate many of the songs, they were genuinely spontaneous expressions of creativity.

 

In conclusion, Tagore’s songs will always remain relevant because they are not bound by time or place. They are unique expressions of emotions which are universal. However, in Bengal we either take Tagore for granted or make him into an icon. We sing his songs mechanically at all the celebratory occasions of his birth and death through the year without paying sufficient attention to the sheer genius of his lyrical compositions. The onus lies on us to present Tagore’s songs in a manner that engages the attention of the younger generation, for it depends on them to keep this legacy alive.

 

* Reba Som’s publications include Differences Within Consensus: The Left-Right Divide in the Congress 1929-39 (Orient Longman, 1995); Gandhi, Nehru and Bose: The Making of the Modern Indian Mind (Penguin, 2004), and Rabindranath Tagore: The Singer and His Song (Penguin, 2009). Reba Som is also a trained singer of Rabindrasangeet. Her compact disc, ‘Selected Songs of Rabindranath Tagore’ (Saregama, 2004) includes her English translations of Tagore’s lyrics.

Footnotes:

1. This article is based on Reba Som, Rabindranath Tagore: The Singer and His Song, Penguin, 2009.

2. Rabindranath Tagore, The Religion of Man (1931), Rupa & Co., 2002, p. 139.

3. Hoyé utthchhi (I am getting there – translation mine) of which he speaks in his Atmo Porichoy.

4. Satyajit Ray, ‘Some Reflections on Rabindrasangit’, in Purabi: A Miscellany in Memory of Rabidranath Tagore1941-91, edited by Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson, Tagore Centre, UK, 1991.

5. Buddhadeva Bose, ‘The Poetry of Rabindranath Tagore’, The Visvabharati Quarterly 26(3-4), 1962, Tagore Centenary Number, edited by Hirendranath Datta, p. 193.

6. Jana gana mana adhinayak jaya he – adopted by India as its national anthem after becoming independent in 1947; amar shonar Bangla ami tomaye bhalobashi – adopted by Bangladesh as its national anthem after becoming independent in 1971.

7. Tagore to Bake, 17 June 1936, in Bake papers, Rabindra Bhavan, Santiniketan.

8. E.J. Thompson, Rabindranath Tagore: Poet and Dramatist, OUP, New Delhi, 1991, p. 61.

9. Ibid.

10. Ritwik Ghatak in an interview shortly before his death in 1976, in Andrew Robinson, Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye, 1989, p. 47.