RABINDRASANGEET EXPOSED!!!!
Reshma
Can you guys/gals tell me why music directors are making hindi version of
Rabindranath Tagore's songs, that were meant to be sung as
Rabindrasangeet...I mean, aren't these songs supposed to be
nonconvertable? I am talking about three songs from YUGPURUSH "bandhan
Khula Panchi udaa" "chaale hum do jaan" and "jeevan path mera" HAVE ANY
OTHER MUSIC DIRECTORS COPIED RABINDRASANGEET INTO HINDI ALSO? Is this a
way to get hindi speaking people understand what Rabindranath's songs were
all about? EXPLAIN PLEASE!!!!
Reshma
Balaji A.S. Murthy
For a short but interesting discussion thread about Rabindra Sangeet and Hindi
films click on the following URL at DejaNews and follow the link 'view thread'.
http://x11.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=206103719&CONTEXT=907955210.1585315922&hitnum=179
Several songs were discussed. Satish Subramanian mentioned that almost all the
songs in '1942: A love story' were based on Rabindra Sangeet.
Hope this helps.
- Balaji
il_...@yahoo.com
fj...@cleveland.freenet.edu (Balaji A.S. Murthy) wrote:
> For a short but interesting discussion thread about Rabindra Sangeet and Hindi
> films click on the following URL at DejaNews and follow the link 'view
thread'.
>
> - Balaji
Thank you, Balaji, for providing the above link info. I spent
an absorbing 15 minutes in going through the discussion.
As regards the "Waris" song "Raahi matwaale..", I too have not
seen the film but I do happen to have the happy version in my
video collection of songs. Talat is sitting at the window in
a train compartment when he launches into this song. Some
moments later, the camera pans to another part of the compart-
ment where Suraiyya is shown lying on the berth, apparently
asleep. By the time the line "NainaN hoN chaar" is sung by
Talat, he is surprised by his companion's voice joining in.
He goes and sits on her adjoining berth and the concluding
lines are sung by both. BTW, you have to see Suraiyya's eyes
in this song sequence. To use an Americanism, they are like
saucers ! Both Talat and Suraiyya had mellifluous, soothing
voices. It is a pity we don't have many songs in this combo.
Incidentally, the orchestral accompaniment contains the
sound of the train chugging along and whistling. At least
this part must be an "original" addition by Anil Biswas, for
the Rabindrageet could not possibly have this.
Another point about the film "Angulimaal". I had seen the
film (released around 1961) and recollect that the song
"Madhu-ras ke bhare tore chanchal nainaN" was there in the
movie. IIRC, it is sung by Nimmi's saheli while she and
some other girls are helping with Nimmi's "singhaar". I also
have the 78 rpm record of this song.
"Paran chaai nainan na chaai" as sung by Pankaj Mullick is a
very good example of an oriental song sung to Western music
and rhythm. I did not know that it was a Rabindrageet. BTW,
the song seemed to have hindi lyrics. Was the original too
in hindi ?
While many of us have some idea of Rabindra Sangeet, Nazrul-
geeti is something else. Most of us, to my mind, know very
little about it. We of course know that Qazi Nazr-ul-Islam
was a fiery Bengali poet and his songs have a very distinct
revolutionary fervour. I remember seeing a Films Division
documentary (somewhere around 1964) on him, in which they
also showed shots of the poet when he had lost his mental
balance. Was he also a music composer in his own right ?
Or other people have set his songs to music ? What are
the characteristics of Nazrul-geeti ? How does it differ
from Rabindra Sangeet ? Examples of hindi songs based on
Nazrul-geeti ? Why there are many more examples of Rabindra
Sangeet in HFM, but not of Nazrul-geeti ? After all, I am
sure all our music composers from the Eastern Region (AB,
HK, SDB, RDB, SC etc.) must have had a good knowledge of
Nazrul-geeti. Too many questions, I know. But I am sure
some of our stalwarts would be able to furnish the answers.
Afzal
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arunabha shasanka roy
more relevant)
Regarding Mr. Afzal's following query :
> While many of us have some idea of Rabindra Sangeet, Nazrul-
> geeti is something else. Most of us, to my mind, know very
> little about it. We of course know that Qazi Nazr-ul-Islam
> was a fiery Bengali poet and his songs have a very distinct
> revolutionary fervour. I remember seeing a Films Division
> documentary (somewhere around 1964) on him, in which they
> also showed shots of the poet when he had lost his mental
I will try to answer some of your questions. Kazi Nazrul Islam was a
prolific composer of Bengali light as well as patriotic songs. His
flourishing career as a brilliant lyricist as well as music composer (i.e.
he composed songs tuned to his own lyrics) came to a tragic end with his
early death (I believe he was in his late twenties or early thirties when
his end came). Despite this extremely short career he brought to Bengal
a new and distinct genre of music through which he would live on, - Nazrul
Geeti.
As regards the parallels between Tagore and Nazrul, from what I have heard
they could not have been more different , if one discounts music,
that is. While Tagore was born into a wealthy family, Nazrul grew up in
far more humble surroundings. I was told he worked as a butcher at some
point of time to earn his living.
The fact that Tagore is more well known to the non-Bengali audience, is
not surprising : his work found recognition in western circles as well,
leading to his Nobel prize. Whether translations of nazrul's composition
in other languages exist I cannot say for sure. However as far as Bengali
music goes, the two are very much up there at the top . (I would hesitate
to make a "he is more popular then he is" kind of claim/comparison as I
would not be the appropriate person. I doubt if such a comparison would be
evenmeaningful as their very styles of composition are different.
Nazrul's compositions cover a wide range of themes ranging from patriotic
songs (these
composed when he was gripped by nationalistic servour) to
devotional , geet and ghazal, and light classical forms such as thumri
and dadra. He is probably most remembered through his love songs. An
interesting feature of his devotional compositions is that he wrote and
composed Hindu as well as Urdu devotional songs with equal ease. His style
borrows largely from classical music (Hindustani) in that most of his
songs are based on a single raag .This is the beauty of his compositions.
Many of them are non-trivial compositions and require skill and tayyaarii
on the part of the singer to interpret them and carry them off
well.Manabendra Mukherjee, Anup Ghoshal , Dr Anjali Mukherjee, as well as
Sandhya Mukherjee, Firoza Begum, are a few of the
notable exponents that I can recall offhand.
This may be one aspect where he differs significantly from Tagore , and
it may be that people found it easier to "sing along" with tagore's
compositions which have fewer intricacies. (In case someone is wont to
misunderstand let me clarify that I have equal respect for both Tagore and
Nazrul)
And as far as utilization of Nazarul Geeti in HFM is concerned, it is
indeed surprising that one does not know of that many off the cuff as is
the case with RS. Given the large number of composers from the east, it
would seem likely for traces of inspiration [sic]. The single instance
that I can recall is "puuchho na kaise maine rain bitaayii" whose Bengali
original composed by Nazrul is "aruno kaanti ke go jogii bhikhaarii"
> balance. Was he also a music composer in his own right ?
> Or other people have set his songs to music ? What are
> the characteristics of Nazrul-geeti ? How does it differ
> from Rabindra Sangeet ? Examples of hindi songs based on
> Nazrul-geeti ? Why there are many more examples of Rabindra
> Sangeet in HFM, but not of Nazrul-geeti ? After all, I am
> sure all our music composers from the Eastern Region (AB,
> HK, SDB, RDB, SC etc.) must have had a good knowledge of
> Nazrul-geeti. Too many questions, I know. But I am sure
> some of our stalwarts would be able to furnish the answers.
>
I certainly do hope someone better informed would be able to provide
details, in particular usage of Nazrul geeti in HFM.
-Arunabha
Gautam Choudhury
>I will try to answer some of your questions. Kazi Nazrul Islam was a
>prolific composer of Bengali light as well as patriotic songs. His
>flourishing career as a brilliant lyricist as well as music composer (i.e.
>he composed songs tuned to his own lyrics) came to a tragic end with his
>early death (I believe he was in his late twenties or early thirties when
>his end came). Despite this extremely short career he brought to Bengal
>a new and distinct genre of music through which he would live on, - Nazrul
>Geeti.
Nazrul, in his old age sufferd from Alzheimers disease and lost his
memory completely. He died in Calcutta in the early '70s at his son
Kazi Aniruddha's residence . I think he was in his seventies.
Prithviraj Dasgupta
> "Paran chaai nainan na chaai" as sung by Pankaj Mullick is a
> very good example of an oriental song sung to Western music
> and rhythm. I did not know that it was a Rabindrageet. BTW,
> the song seemed to have hindi lyrics. Was the original too
> in hindi ?
>
Nope, Tagore did not ever compose in Hindi. However, the Hindi
song's lyrics are a direct ranslation of Tagore's composition.
I think. It might be worth mentioning here that
Rabindranath Tagore was not very enthusiastic about his songs being
used in films. Pankaj Mullick personally visited Tagore to seek permission
for composing the tune to one of the poet's compositions: 'Diner sheshey'
in the movie'Mukti'(AFAIR, theHindi version of the song is O Babu....').
This made Pankaj Mullick the only person to compose music for Tagore!
It is said that Tagore was deeply aggraved when he heard that one his
compositions 'Tumi ke keboli chhobi' had been used by PKM to convey
his love to a portrait of the heroine. He was personally never happy about
his songs being used in films.
> While many of us have some idea of Rabindra Sangeet, Nazrul-
> geeti is something else. Most of us, to my mind, know very
> little about it. Afzal
Enough has been said already about Kazi Nazrul. He was born in 1899, died in
1976 in Dhaka. It is rumored that British prison torture during the 1940's
caused his mental imbalance. I believe he could never again compose, after
he was released from prison in the mid 40's. Although he could not speak,
tears welled from his eyes whenever he heard his own songs being sung.
One of the most tragic losses for Indian music.
Regarding his influence in HFM, one more instance:
'Jhoom jhoom kar chali akeli' from Taj (MD: Hemant Kumar) is directly inspired
by a Nazrulgeeti 'Rum jhum jhum jhum...'
-Prithviraj
Omar Khayyam
Kazi Nazrul spent the last days of his life in Bangladesh. He died in
Dhaka in 1976 and was burried at the Dhaka University graveyard with full
national honours.