Tasher Desh Songs List

[Ezilda Newnam]

Longback, I would often stare at the 27 volumes of Rabindra Rachanabali neatly placed on the bookshelf in our Kolkata apartment living room. In comparison, my four-volume Tell Me Why set that I never managed to finish reading, looked drab and puny. It was as if Tagore was looking at me with a smirk, telling me, "You know nothing."

When I was first reading Tasher Desh (The Land of Cards), a play written by Tagore, my mother, rather discouragingly told me, "You will never be able to finish reading all of Tagore." I took it up as a challenge. Often, me and my mother, would read the lyrics to Tagore's songs from those books and sing. That was my first brush with his music. But, my mother was right. I could not finish reading Tagore. However, I did know that there was a Tagore song for all the heartbreaks, a poem for all the celebrations, and a play to serve as a travel companion, every time.

On Wednesday, a group of Trinamool Congress (TMC) lawmakers wanted to head to the Prime Minister's residence to protest the arrest of their colleague Sudip Bandyopadhyay. While Delhi Police managed to stop them, they also got a taste of the histrionics that Calcuttans are quite used to.

Last year, when the Chief Minister was in Rome to attend the canonisation mass that declared Mother Teresa a saint, she walked 6 kilometres from Rome to St Peter's Basilica along with MPs Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek O'Brien, singing 'Prano Bhoriye, Trisha Horiye,' another Tagore song. This singing was in celebration.

When Mamata came to power in 2011, she said that her chief focus was to give Kolkata a "London type look". As part of that effort, she decided to play Rabindranath Tagore's songs at traffic signals. Apparently, this was to "reduce stress and tedium of people waiting at signals."

Firing a salvo at the Trinamool Congress over its five-year rule in the state, Shah told a press meet in Kolkata, "Only the bomb making industry has come up in West Bengal in the last five years. And the sound of Rabindra Sangeet is getting suppressed because of those bomb blasts."

Shah's comment set the chief minister on a war-path. "I heard (Amit Shah) has said something about Rabindranath... People of Bengal do not forgive anyone who insults great poets like Rabindranath Tagore and Nazrul Islam," she declared at an election rally.

She also utilised the opportunity to berate the Communist Party of India-Marxist for "disrespecting" Tagore and then "suffering" for it. Perhaps Mamata felt that the Left's 34-year rule in West Bengal came to an end because they did not play enough Tagore songs.

In Bengal's political dictionary, Rabindra Sangeet is also a very, very important phrase. In case you didn't know, "No Rabindra Sangeet" is a code for "let's beat them up." It came into vogue after Mamata Banerjee, following her historic win in 2011, told her party workers not to hold victory rallies but stay home and listen to Rabindra Sangeet.

During the 2015 election campaign, TMC lawmaker Kalyan Banerjee said at a rally in Bankura: "Didi, please don't ask us to listen to Rabindra Sangeet after this poll." Madan Mitra, also from TMC, went a step further and said, "Didi, no Rabindra Sangeet this time. Maybe Bhojpuri songs. Also very popular."

Bengalis are known for their 'baro mashe tairo parbon' phenomenon. Just as on every month, we have a festival and then one more, we have a song for it too. And it won't do if it's not a Tagore song. Often, at weddings you will hear a Tagore rendition instead of the usual shehnai, NEVER 'Kala chashma'.

And if you are in Kolkata and playing antakshari with a bunch of Bengalis, don't be surprised if they break into Mamo ChitteNite Nritye instead of Mahi re mahi munder pe teri bol raha hai kagha. Because that's how we are. We have woven Rabindra Sangeet into the fabric of our lives. If Tagore's songs could be compared to food, it would be Chilli Chicken. From birthdays to weddings, you will find it just about everywhere.

Onima, nicknamed Mohor was brought up and educated in the serene atmosphere of Rabindranath's Ashram, at Shantiniketan. Even at her tender age, no one failed to realise that she was gifted with an inimitable voice.

Kanika Bandyopadhyay, the legendary singer of Rabindra Sangeet, was born in Bankura in the year 1924. From that day at the orchard, a special bond started to develop between Rabindranath and her. For well over the next 50 years, she immersed herself completely in music and in the rich artistic surroundings of the Ashram. Among her teachers were stalwarts such as Dinendranath Tagore, Indira Devi Chowdhurani, Sailajaranjan Majumdar and Santidev Ghosh. But most importantly, she was one of the rare protges to come under the tutelage of the Gurudeb himself; she blossomed under his training and guidance.

Many of the leading artistes of Bangladesh, such as Papia Sarwar, Rezwana Chowdhury Bonnya, Sadi Mohammad, Aminur Rahman Nijhu and Lily Islam had the rare experience of training under Kanika at Shantiniketan.

When she came in 1972, she was quite unwell and was not able to continue for long. With only the snow-white Rojonigondha on her hair, she was an image from the Golden Age of music, as the packed hall listened enthralled.

From that fateful day in the mango grove to the day Kanika breathed her last, she maintained this philosophy. She not only performed Rabindra Sangeet, she surrounded herself in its lyrical beauty. And in doing so, she presented the world a glimpse of her majestic art, her priceless "offering" to posterity.

Rabindranath was the first non-European to have won a Noble Prize in Literature in 1913, and he was granted a knighthood by King George V in 1919. However, he was unattached to honours and accolades and in 1919, Rabindranath renounced his knighthood in protest of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, during which a crowd of non-violent protesters and Sikh pilgrims were brutally fired upon by the British Indian Army.

After his passing in 1941, Rabindranath continued to inspire a younger generation of artists, writers, and many others to value spiritualism and humanity, and to live their lives to their fullest potentials. You can read more about his life and works below.

Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers, but to be fearless in facing them.

Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but for the heart to conquer it.

Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved, but hope for the patience to win my freedom.

Rabindranath grew up in an artistic environment and was introduced to the world of music, literature, and theatre from an early age. The Tagore family were known to be ardent art-lovers and patrons of the arts, and they were a dominant force in the development of Bengali literature and culture.

When he was 11 years old, Rabindranath went on a tour across India with his father. During this journey, Rabindranath used the opportunity to read the works of famous literary writers such as Kalidasa, a renowned Sanskrit poet. After his return in 1877, he composed a long poem in the Maithili language.

Enamelled with melody, that cloudy day on the Ganga shore survives, even now, in the jewel casket of my rain songs. I remember the gusts of wind that assailed the treetops every now and then, causing a great stirring and swaying, among the branches, the dinghies scudding along the river, their white sails tilting in the wind, the splash of tall plunging waves upon the ghat. When Bouthakrun (sister-in-law) returned, I sang the song for her. She listened in silence, without uttering a word of praise. I was 16 or 17 then. We argued about the pettiest of things, but our exchange had lost their sharpness.

After Rabindranath lost his mother at the age of 14, Kadambari Devi became a mother figure to Rabindranath. She often cooked delicious meals for him; even when he was old and dying, Rabindranath could still remember the taste of mashed chorchori, the tasty mixed vegetables cooked with shrimp and chilies that Kadambari cooked for him.

In the evenings, Rabindranath often joined his brother and sister-in-law on the terrace garden of their two-storied house on the bank of the Ganges. Often, the garden was filled with the sweet smell of flowering shrubs of Champa, Chameli, Tuberose, and Oleander, which he remembered fondly.

Debendranath had wanted Rabindranath to become a barrister. In 1878, he sent Rabindranath to study law at the University College London but Rabindranath was not passionate. Instead, he studied the works of Shakespeare. As a result, Rabindranath returned to India in 1880 without a law degree but with many ideas on how to fuse European and Bengali tradition in his writings and art. In 1882, Rabindranath wrote one of his acclaimed nationalist poems, Nirjharer Swapna Bhanga.

Rabindranath and Mrinalini Devi had a relatively happy marriage. Mrinalini Devi was a supportive and devoted wife, and together they had two sons and three daughters: Madhurilata Devi (Bela), Rathindranath Tagore (Rathi), Renuka Devi (Rani), Mira Devi (Atasi), and Samindranath Tagore (Sami).

Rabindranath established himself as a visionary when he wrote his famous essay Swadeshi Samaj, where he elaborated his ideas on programmes that included village cooperative movements, mass education, and local self-governance to instill the spirit of self-reliance among the Bengali villagers, in order to rejuvenate their lives and give them hope. Unfortunately, his ideas did not get much support, but these challenging circumstances did not deter him, as he experimented with rural reconstruction at his family estate. Later in 1912, Rabindranath bought a large manor and the surrounding land in Surul, approximately three kilometres from Santiniketan where he established the Institute of Rural Reconstruction.

In 1901, Rabindranath established Patha Bhavana, formerly known as Brahmacharya Ashram, with the help of Brahmabandhav Upadhyay, a Roman Catholic, as a school for children. This venture revealed his true mind as a visionary, as his straightforward and path-defying ideas about education embodied the principles of ancient Indian hermitages, and purported to encourage children to grow into responsible, sensible, and mature individuals.

3a8082e126