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Reba Som, Rabindranath Tagore. The Singer and His Song, Viking, Penguin Books India, 2009, 291 pp., ISBN: 9780670082483.
For many, Rabindranath Tagore is a remarkable poet. For others, he is a skillful painter. But in the same time, Tagore is also an extraordinary writer, essayist and an amazing songwriter. His Gitanjali, the book of poems for which Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 was actually a collection of songs. Even today, especially in Bengal, Rabindrasangeet - Tagore's songs - are sung and transmitted through generations. More than that, Rabindranath Tagore gave the anthems of two countries - Jana Gana Mana, the Indian national anthem of India, and Amar Shonar Bangla, the Bangladeshi national anthem.
In his lifetime, Rabindranath Tagore was most renowned for his songs. "If they remember me for nothing else, they will remember me for my songs," he said once. But today, outside Bengal, his music remains largely unknown and his songs are scarcely understood. The present book written by Dr. Reba Som, a trained singer of Rabindrasangeet and an important historian of our days India, not to mention the fact that she is at present the Director of ICCR Kolkata' s cultural flagship, the Rabindranath Tagore Centre, brings in front of us, those who love Tagore and his writings, a new image. This biography maps out chronologically the musical journey of the poet with anecdotes and allusions, and includes translations of some of Tagore's most evocative songs.
Almost all the events from Tagore's life were expressed in songs. Reba Som' s book analyzes his Ufe as it was expressed in his songs, starting from "Early Beginnings", to Gitanjali moment and all the fame he gained after Nobel Prize, "Reaching out the World" or the foundation of Visva Bharati to "Evening Melody: Victoria Ocampo" and the last years.
In the beginning, we have to say that Rabindranath Tagore's music added a new and impressive dimension to the musical concept of India, in general, and Bengal in particular. In our days, Rabindrasangeet are the cultural treasures of Bengalis - including people from Bangladesh. These songs are as a result of centuries of literary and cultural turnings of Bengali community. Tagore gave them a voice and put them on universal...