The word of the songs of Rabindranath Tagore is eternally thrilling and enchanting. It brings forth a vast panorama of human life and experience encapsulating joy and sorrow, love and languishment, pleasure and pain, union and detachment besides a look beyond. This English translation of Santidev Ghosh’s Rabindrasangeet Vichitra makes an in-depth study of the music of Rabindranath Tagore. Analysing the influence of foreign culture and music on Bengali life in general and on Tagore’s songs in particular, it discusses at length his songs of moving emotions and the pattern of speaking. Further delineating a few characteristics of division of words in Tagore’s songs, it also reviews the influence of Bengali songs on him. An assessment of Rabindrasangeet from the perspective of the audience and a comparative study of Tagore and Pandit Bhatkhande make part of the discussion as well.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mohit Chakrabarti
Mohit Chakrabarti, D. Litt. Teaches English and Education at Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, India. Honoured with National Award. Credited with participation/ presentation/ acceptance of Papers in International/National conferences, symposia, seminars etc. including the World Assembly of Teacher Educators, the University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, Institution of Education, Singapore, First International Symposium on ‘India and World Literature’, University of Delhi, Delhi, Sixth Conference of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas, University of Haifa, Israel, Workshop on Setting the Agenda for the 21 Century, Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, Syama Prasad Mookerjee Centenary Conference on Sustainable Economic Social and Political Reforms in the Information Age, Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi. Member, National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), New Delhi. Consistent and prolific contributor to studies and researches on Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Ganchi and Swami Vivekananda. Author of children’s literature in Bengali and English.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Santidev Ghosh
Santidev Ghosh, the son of Kalimohan, a close associate of Rabindranath Tagore in the setting up the Rural Reconstruction Unit at Visva-Bharati, and Monorama Devi, was born on 24 Baisakh 1317 (May 07, 1910) in Chandpur in the erstwhile East Pakistan. Santidev had his school education at the Santiniketan Ashram Vidyalaya which Tagore had founded in 1901. This is where he acquired proficiency in music, dance and acting under the direct guidance of the Poet himself and Dinendranath. As Tagore’s emissary, he visited Sri Lanka, Burma and Indonesia to learn music and dance of neighbouring countries. Santidev joined Visva-Bharati in 1930 as a teacher. He married Smt. Ila Ghosh in 1946. Later he became Professor and Head of the Department of Rabindra Music and Dance at Sangit-Bhavana, Visva-Bharati. He also served as the Principal of the institute between 1964-68 and 1971-73. Santidev was appointed a member of the Advisor Board of Akashvani, Calcutta in 1948 and served as a member of the Publication Committee of the Sangeet-Natak Academy, New Delhi (1956-60). He was the President of the Music Section of Prabasi Bango Sahitya Sammelan and Assam Sahitya Sammelan (1964). The prolific singer widely traveled in India and abroad. He visited the United Kingdom, Japan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the former USSR in order to acquaint himself with thje culture and traditions of those countries and also propagating ideals of Rabindranath. Santidev has to his credit quite a few authentic publications on the subject Music and Dance. They include Rabindra Sangeet (Tagore Music). Java O Balir Nrityageet (Music and Dance of Java and Bali), Rupakar Nandalal (Artist Nandalal), Bharatiya Gramin Sanskriti (Folk Culture in India), Rabindranather Sikshadarshe Sangit O Nritya (Music and Dance in Rabindranath's Educational Philosophy), Gurudev Rabindranath O Adhunik Bharatiya Nritya (Gurudev Rabindranath and Dances of Modern India), Rabindra Sangeet, Vichitra (Rabindra Sangeet Miscellany), Nrityakala O Rabindranath (The Art of Dance in the Eyes of Rabindranath) and Jiboner Dhrubatara (The Polestar of Life), his autobiography. Santidev's proficiency in the fields of Music and Dance has been richly rewarded. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 1985, Deshikottama by Visva-Bharati in the same year. He also received Honorary D.Litt. from Burdwan and Rabindra Bharati Universities in 1991 and 1990 respectively, West Bengal Government honoured him with the Allauddin Puraskar (1997) and Tamraphalak (1981). He was also a recipient of the Ananda Puraskar and Rathindra Puraskar. He was honoured with a Special medal from Russia on Tagore’s Birth Centenary in 1961. He also served as a Fellow, Sangeet Natak Academy, New Delhi and Rabindra Tattvacharya at the Tagore Research Institute, Kolkata. Santidev died on 1 December 1999.
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