Development of Bengali urban music
Ashok
Got to read a nice article on Bengali music, thanks to Neha.
Posting it since I thought it might be of general interest
to RMIMers.
Ashok
=========================================================
Development of Bengali urban music
Bengal's musical heritage is not very old. However, within a span of 200
years or so, it has gathered good amount of richness. It is said that the
Bengali literature started with music. The earliest known piece of Bengali
literature "Charyapada" used to be sung in melody (or like chants).
As with any other forms of folk-art, Bengali folk-music's evolutionary
history is not very clearly understood. But its rich repertoire of topics,
sometimes very esoteric in nature, usage of a varied vocabulary and a wide
range of complicated musical texture suggest that this particular folk-
art of Bengal is not very new. It probably has gone through different
evolutionary phases.
There are several kinds of folk music in Bengal with their own
characteristics. Some of them are sung usually by a certain group of
people. For example, "Bhatiyali" is usually sung by the boatmen. But a
particular type of folk may also represent a particular geographical part
of Bengal. For example, "Bhaowaia" is from northern part of Bengal. There
are folk songs for specific occasions (like marriage etc.) also. Similarly
"Agomoni" has some Hindu religious significance.
Two particular types of Bengali folk need special mention. They are "Baul"
and "Kirtan". "Baul" is not just a kind of music, it is basically a cult.
Members of this sect follow and believe some set of values in life which
is sort of esoteric in nature. "Kirtan", on the other hand, are based on
the stories of love of Radha and Krishna, who are characters from Hindu
mythology. "Kirtan" can no longer be classified as folk; its overwhelming
popularity among the urban people during the early part of this century
has put it somewhere between folk, urban and semi-classical music.
The history of Bengali urban music (as opposed to folk) is of less than 200
years. The prostitutes and the mistresses of feudal lords used to sing
songs with some (by today's standard) vulgar lyrics set on some Hindusthani
classical raga. Later Ramnidhi Gupta created a special kind of songs, called
"Bangla Toppa", after the same kind of music from Punjab called "Shori
Mia's Toppa". He set his romantic lyrics on melodies which were based on
Hindusthani classical music. Later his songs became popular as "Nidhubabur
Toppa (Mr. Nidhu's Tappa)". Even today this kind of songs is heard in Bengal,
especially in Calcutta. But number of both the exponents and audience of
this kind of music is waning fast. Chandidas Maal is one of the last
few performers of this kind of songs.
Following Ramnidhi Gupta, there came a few more people who also created the
same kind of songs. Sridhar Kathak, Gopal Ude, Amritolal Basu are to name a
few. In nineteenth century, within a span of ten years (1861 - 1871) Bengal
produced four musical personalities, who, with their talents, changed the
Bengali music drastically. They are Rabindranath Tagore, Dwijendralal Roy,
Rajanikanta Sen and Atulprasad Sen. Each of them was lyricist and composer
of their own songs.
Rabindranath, undoubtedly, have the most influence on the saga of Bengali
music. He was trained in Hindusthani classical music style by (then) famous
exponent Jadubhatta and Bishnu Chakraborty. Later Rabindranath, during his
stay in England came across western style of music, especially operas which
had influenced young Rabindranath to write and compose operatic dramas in
Bengali. And throughout his life, he was exposed to Bengali folk.
Rabindranath's father and elder brothers were also very interested in
music. They also used to compose songs. But Rabindranath was by far the
most versatile with his pen and piano among his siblings. He wrote almost
2500 songs and a few musical drama (like operas). His songs are known as
"Rabindrasangeet (songs of Rabindranath)" and today, more than 50 years
after his death they are the most popular among the Bengali urban educated
middle-class. Some of the greatest performers of this kind of songs are
Pankaj Mallik, Kanika Bandopadhaya, Suchitra Mitra, Hemanta Mukhopadhaya,
Rajeshwari Dutta, Debabrata Biswas, Subinoy Roy et al.
Atulprasad Sen, being stationed in Lukhnow (a city in Uttar Pardesh in
north India and a very famous place for Hindusthani classical music) came
across many great performers and he himself was also a good singer. Most of
his songs' tunes were improvisations of Hidusthani classical ragas.
Dwijendralal Roy, (and of course Rabindranath Tagore) being exposed to
western music at that time, is supposed to be one of the first persons to
bring western flavor in Bengali music. Till date, he is supposed to be one
of the greatest composers of Bengal. He also was well versed in Hindustani
classical music and applied that element in his music. He was also known
for writing many patriotic songs, predominantly to furnish his plays.
Rajanikanta Sen was known for his songs, which had a strong religious
undertone. Some of the performers of songs of Atulprasad, Dwijendrala
and Rajanikanta are Dilip Kumar Ray, Manju Gupta, Krishna Chottopadhaya,
Sushil Chottopadhaya et al.
The above mentioned four personalities with their creation started molding
the musical psyche of the urban Bengali, which still was very hesitant in
accepting new kind of music.
During 1910s came Kaji Nazrul Islam with his genius of song writing and
compositions. Apart from traditional Hindusthani classical and western
style of music, he adapted a lot of tunes from folk music of other places
as well as tunes from middle east. Through him, Bengali non-folk music
first experienced Islamic style of music.
Nazrul was not very organized in regard to his music. The songs, which are
known as "Nazrulgeeti (songs of Nazrul)" today, contain songs which are
supposedly not his creation. Also, the scores of his songs were not kept
properly, and after he took a pre-mature retirement from music, lot of his
songs were tampered as far as the tunes are concerned. Some of the very
popular exponents of Nazrul's songs are Sachin Dev Burman, Dhirendra
Chandra Mitra, Suprabha Sarkar, Manabendra Mukhopadhyaya, Firoza Begam,
Anup Ghosal et al.
Until 1950's, Nazrul and other composers/lyricists who followed his style
of music reigned Bengali music. From 1960's Rabindranath's music again
became popular but the musicians of that time continued to follow Nazrul's
style of writing.
From 1930's onwards, the creation of Bengali songs started through division
of labor. Earlier, it was the composers who used to write the lyrics
themselves. But henceforth, barring a few exceptions, the lyricist and the
composer would be different persons.
Among the composers, who still are considered as stalwarts in Bengali music
are Himangshu Datta, Anupam Ghatak, Kamal Bhattacharya, Rabin Chattopadhyay,
Salil Chowdhury, Nachiketa Ghosh, Sudhin Dasgupta and so on.
Among the lyricists are Pronob Roy, Sailen Roy, Ajoy Bhattacharya,
Nishikanta, Salil Chowdhury, Gouriprasanna Majumder, Shyamal Gupta, Pulak
Bondopadhyay et al.
The number of performers of this era is mind-boggling. To name a few famous
performers: Gyanendra Prasad Goswami, Krishnachandra De, Sachin Dev Burman,
Hemanta Mukhopadhyay, Satinath Mukhopadhyay, Akhilbondhu Ghosh, Dhananjoy
Bhattacharya, Sandhya Mukhopadhyay, Lata Mangeshkar, Manna De, Kishore Kumar,
Shyamal Mitra, Asha Bhonsle et al.
From late 1970's, the advent of the new technology of audio-cassette and
tremendous popularity of Hindi movies (and their songs) started attacking
the Bengali music industry. Death of creative personalities in 1970's and
in 1980's left Bengali music in the hand of mediocres.
In 1992, Suman Chottopadhyay started a new trend in Bengali music with his
songs. In making of Bengali music he reminds us of the old days, when the
same person used to write, compose and sing the songs. Following his
footsteps a bunch of lyricists cum composers cum singers are now performing
in the stages of Calcutta. Pratul Mukhopadhyay, Nachiketa, Anjan Dutta are
among the popular singers.But time has yet to come to comment about the
value of this kind of music.
Bengali people were always known for their appreciation for good music. The
manifestations of that are in different ways. Calcutta used to be called the
cultural mecca of India. Most of popular singers of India starting from
K. L. Saigal to Anuradha Padwal (who are not Bengalis) have tried their
luck in Bengali music. The Gramaphone Company of India started its business
in Calcutta by recording Gaharjan Bai's song.
With this rich past, why Bengali music loosing ground to Hindi film music
is a big puzzle to many. Whether it will bring back its golden glory or it
will lose the battle can only be answered by time.
============================================================
Arnab Gupta
Ashok wrote...
>Got to read a nice article on Bengali music, thanks to Neha.
>Posting it since I thought it might be of general interest
>to RMIMers.
Ashok, thanks for posting this nice overview of Bengali music.
The original article was written by Sambit Basu and can be
accessed at the West Bengal page maintained by Arghya Chatterjee.
Sambit is also working on a comprehensive site for Bengali music
on the internet.
Thanks,
Arnab.
Siddhartha Duttagupta
First thanks to Ashok (and also to Neha and Sambit), a nice posting on
"adhunik" bengali music.
A few comments:
Rajanikanta Sen who was mentioned for his devotional songs was settled
in Lahore. So he was also influenced by hindustani music just as
Atulprasad Sen was. He and others have significantly contributed to a
genre that was (surprisingly) omitted in the article. It is called
"shyamasangeet" which are songs worshipping the goddess Kali.Along the
lines of the traditional division of Vaishnavites and Shaivites in
Bengal, "kirtan" is the voice of the former and "shyamasangeet" is
that of the latter.
I would like to be corrected on this point but apart from bengal,
music is not much associated with Shaivism (presumably because Kali is
not worshipped elsewhere). Meera Bhajans et al are the exclusive
domain of Vaishnavites ( I do not know who is worshipped in the
Suprabhatams). On the other hand, dance I guess is more of a "nataraj"
thing.
clarifications/corrections/thoughts welcome.
regards, siddhartha
>On 29 Sep 1997 18:16:31 GMT, <Ashok M. Dhareshwar> (Ashok) wrote:
>Got to read a nice article on Bengali music, thanks to Neha.
>Posting it since I thought it might be of general interest
>to RMIMers.
>
>Ashok
>
>=========================================================
>
>Development of Bengali urban music
>
>Rajanikanta Sen was known for his songs, which had a strong religious
Unknown
>A few comments:
>Rajanikanta Sen who was mentioned for his devotional songs was settled
>in Lahore. So he was also influenced by hindustani music just as
>Atulprasad Sen was. He and others have significantly contributed to a
>genre that was (surprisingly) omitted in the article. It is called
>"shyamasangeet" which are songs worshipping the goddess Kali.Along the
>lines of the traditional division of Vaishnavites and Shaivites in
>Bengal, "kirtan" is the voice of the former and "shyamasangeet" is
>that of the latter.
AFAIK Kali worshippers are pretty much a separate sect in themselves. They may
nominally come under the Shaivite group, as Kali is considered to be Shiva's
wife but I think they pretty much have an identity of their own.
Whether Shayamasangeet is the voice of Shaivities is also doubtful. Most songs
in praise of Lord Shiva are very different from Shyamasangeet. Shyamasangeet has
its own style, its own typical tunes and only one subejct - Kali.
>I would like to be corrected on this point but apart from bengal,
>music is not much associated with Shaivism (presumably because Kali is
>not worshipped elsewhere). Meera Bhajans et al are the exclusive
>domain of Vaishnavites ( I do not know who is worshipped in the
>Suprabhatams). On the other hand, dance I guess is more of a "nataraj"
>thing.
I think you are mixing up Shaivinism with Kali worship. They are two totally
different groups. Shiva is worshipped in many parts of India, albeit Kali is
worshipped as Kali only in Bengal. However, she does assume many names/roles in
different parts of India - specially in areas which have a long history of
association with dacoits and tantriks. However, musically speaking, I am not
aware of any other part of the country having developed a branch of music
dedicated to songs in her praise. In that respect atleast, Shyamasangeet holds a
unique place in Indian/Bengali music.
The main streams of music in Bengal are as follows:
1. Rabindra Sangeet (songs by Rabindranath Tagore)
2. NazrulGeeti ( Kazi Nazrul Islam's songs)
3. AtulPrasader Gaan (Songs of AtulPrasad)
4. Rajnikanter Gaan (Songs by Rajnikant)
5. ShyamaSangeet (Songs in praise of goddess Kali)
6. Kirtan (Devotional songs - generally in praise of Vishnu/Krishna)
A very strong influence in this last stream of music was by Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu, on whose teachings is based the ISKCON movement.
7. Baul (pronounced Baauul) (Songs sung by medicants, in their own inimitable
style, who have evolved a unique lifestyle for themselves)
8. BhaaTiyaali (sung generally by fishermen, they have a faster beat, a rougher
language/words, but speak of emotions/feelings/life in general)
9. Agomoni (sung at the start of Puja to welcome home goddess Durga) - from the
Bengali word aagomon. In Hindi, the word is aagaman. :-))
10. Folk - this is different from all the above mentioned music streams. This
includes marriage songs, songs for children, harvest songs, .... almost anything
you can think of, basically. :-))
11. Film music - which, while borrowing heavily from other streams
(Bengali/non-Bengali), does have its own identity.
12. Puja Songs - :-)) Unlike what the name suggests, these are not devotional
songs but Bengali modern (read non-filmi) songs. The albums are released just
before Durga Puja by the recording companies for maximum sales.
I can't think of any other at this moment but I am sure there are some
categories that I have missed. :-)). e.g. the "Toppaa" :but I will leave other
more knowledgable people to complete the list. :-)))
Keep smiling
Nita
haaN wo nahii.n Khudaaparast, jaao wo bewafaa sahii
jisko ho diin-o-dil aziiz, uskii galii me.n jaaye kyuu.N?
- Ghalib
Gautam Choudhury
Could you please give us the URL of the West Bengal page ?
I would also be interested in reading the article.