Down Melody Lane..::..Article on Films, Personalities, Music Reviews and More..

Rabindranath Tagore's extraordinary intellect found expression in various forms of fine arts, his colossal contribution to Indian music being one of the most outstanding amongst them. So unique were his songs, and in such volume, that have come to be established as a separate genre of Indian music, neither classical nor regional. "Rabindra Sangeet", as his music is popularly known, is a breath taking fusion of his musicianship and poetic genius. Such was the impact of this creation that is has not only withstood the test of time for more than a century, but has also carved out a unique place for itself in the subcontinent's musical culture.

Rabindranath Tagore was born into a family seeped into culture, literature, music and painting. He himself was deeply influenced by Sanskrit and classical music. During his adolescent years, he was greatly influenced by his brother Jyotindranath's heterodox personality. However, Rabindranath was not an analytical thinker, but an intuitive one who preferred poetic analogy to a prosaic argument.

As a child Rabindranath was nourished by Indian classical music and, influenced by it, even composed some songs. However, he was not keen on the rigidity of raga based music. He strove to achieve a perfect fusion of word, theme and rhythm. As he matured, he honed his poetic skills and poetic skills and intrinsic creative streak to generate a perfect symphony of words, moods and beats that marked the unique nature of his music - Rabindra Sangeet.

Rabindranath composed an outstanding 2, 000 songs (both music and lyrics) in his 60-year long creative life. These songs are compiled in his famous book of songs, the 'Geetabitan'. The three volumes of 'Geetabitan' contain exactly 2, 232 songs, which are segregated into distinct sections so that a singer can easily access a song to exactly suit the occasion and the mood. Rabindranath has written a song to reflect every color and every sentiment that can be evoked in a person's life… a very tall claim, yet true. The sheer range of topics and the underlying finer emotions moulded into superb lyrics often leaves one in awe of this genius.

There is a distinct change in flavour in the songs composed by Rabindranath after the establishment of Shantiniketan. The songs composed during the first phase of his life (up to 40 years) were dedicated to God and had a dream like quality. But during the second phase of his life, Rabindranath displayed a deep understanding of humanity and human nature in his songs. It was in this phase that he introduced 'samabeta sangeet' or 'community singing', while nurturing the needs of his newly opened school.

The impact of local culture on Rabindranath was also enormous. This is evident from his early creations that bear a clear influence of kirtan and Ramprasadi tunes popular in Kolkata, where the poet resided during the early phase of his life. In the following years, Rabindranath traveled extensively across Europe, picked up the flavour of the music and melody of various countries and imbibed them into his compositions. Hence, his later works reflect a subtle influence of a wide variety of music expertly woven into the fabric of the Rabindra Sangeet.

Rabindra Nath Tagore

With the myriad influences that inspired Rabindranath to compose the marvelous Sangeet of all times, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to define the style of music created by the great artiste. It is easy to club it all together and call it Rabindra Sangeet. However, on closer analysis, this form of music reveals a heady mixture of Indian classical (both Hindustani and Carnatic), devotional and folk tunes with a handful of European melodies thrown in.

In reality, the general run of Tagore's songs followed the use of four categories - asthayi, antara, abhogi and sanchari, and the tals which came from dhrupad, ektala, jhamp, teora, and the like. Barring the special music of Tagore, the way of singing too was essentially classical. The specialty of his music is the blend of one or more ragas and the combination of baul, kirtan and bhatiali. Then again, his songs were more dependent on words than on the music. Verbal rhythm was more varied than sound rhythm, and verbal texture got the better of sound texture. Poetry stole a march over the classical and the neo-classical modes in the later phase of Rabindranath's life.

For the next 40 years, Tagore passed through en era of blends. He used a number of ragas - such as Todi, Bhairavi, Asavari, Sarang, Puravi, Iman, Malhar and Kear - and blended them to create phenomenal variations. Thereafter, he introduced baul and kirtan into Bhairavi to create songs that were surprisingly new and pleasing. His experimentation ushered a new era in Indian music. He did not introduced any new styles, he simply blurred the lines between classical and regional modes of music.

Rabindranath also introduced specific ways to sing his songs. While the words in classical music are not defined, Rabindra Sangeet had to be clearly enunciated. The reason for this was that the words were poetic; the drag of music (the stress of musical connotations) on words, whether poetic or prosaic in nature, had to be modified in the interest of the poetry. Although the tals used were simple and it was played in simple beats, the specialty of this music lay in Rabindranath's use of grace notes and curves. Mir (grace note) is common to all forms of Indian music, but it is peculiar in Rabindra Sangeet. The mir was closely attached to the words, more or less in the manner of dhrupad as it used to be, without too many bol-tans, gamaks and excessive bantwara. The same was with curves.

Another peculiarity of this form of music was the structure. Each song was an independent entity with the result that each song carved out a kingdom for itself; each kingdom ruled itself in its own ways; and each rule formulated its own regulations.

To say that each of Rabindranath's song was individualistic, with numerous excellent classical and baul blending, that he was great in poetry and equally great in songs, is not enough. One final aspect has been overlooked. It was the creation of moods - moods both poetic and musical. These moods were evasive and yet defined. The shades of love alone were many, but each shade was etched sharply. If Malhar was to be treated, each type of the rainy season, its monotone, its plentitude, its sorrow and grief, its joy and sadness were there. The whole song became itself, the whole song became a mood, and poetry became music. The mood in classical music first begins with a type and ends, if at all, in the songs. The mood of Rabindranath's music begins with each song and would, if at all, end in the type.