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Kanak
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![[*]](./images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif) posted on 2-3-2004 at 04:57 PM |
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BENGALI SONGS & HISTORY OF BENGALI CULTURE
BENGALI SONGS & HISTORY OF BENGALI CULTURE
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 Toppa)". 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 Hindusthani
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.
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Raj
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| posted on 2-3-2004 at 08:02 PM |
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Wow, thats deep research.
It is very informative. Thanks.
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Kanak
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| posted on 2-3-2004 at 08:15 PM |
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Raj
Wow, thats deep research.
It is very informative. Thanks. |
Research korinai temon..khuje khuje pelam tai share korlam.
Thanks!!!
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KINTU
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| posted on 3-3-2004 at 12:20 AM |
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lekhata bhalo
pore bhaloi laglo... bah apni dekhchi Bangla gaaner itihash shomporke bhaloi geayan rakhen... darun laglo
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Fazlul Bari Babu
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| posted on 3-3-2004 at 12:32 AM |
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Dhonno_Tomar jonnooooooooooooooooooo
Songeete jaar jonmo,
seito koribe shongeet nie khayla;
Mugdho Ami,
jachche joto bayla.
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Kanak
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| posted on 3-3-2004 at 12:16 PM |
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thanks KINTU bhai and babu bhai..
:P
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sanjoy_the_great
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| posted on 5-3-2004 at 03:52 AM |
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Babarey !
babarey kanak!!! apni to dekhi boss public!
joss jinish disen
manush ami amar keno Gorur moto mon  |
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Kanak
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| posted on 5-3-2004 at 04:43 AM |
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| Quote: | Originally posted by sanjoy_the_great
babarey kanak!!! apni to dekhi boss public!
joss jinish disen
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Ami boss public na re bhai
Ami net surf kore ja ja informative pai tai collect kori.
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sanjoy_the_great
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| posted on 5-3-2004 at 04:48 AM |
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Hmm bhujlam :cool2:
manush ami amar keno Gorur moto mon |
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kusum
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 posted on 5-3-2004 at 06:55 AM |
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wowowo
khub deeply likecho kanak. excelllent. and i appriciate ur work
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tune79
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| posted on 7-3-2004 at 01:04 PM |
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chomotkar laglo ei jene je desher baire thekeo ato janen bangla gan o literature shomporke . thanx konok ato shundor ekta article upohar deyar
jonno.
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Kanak
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| posted on 7-3-2004 at 06:10 PM |
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| Quote: | Originally posted by tune79
chomotkar laglo ei jene je desher baire thekeo ato janen bangla gan o literature shomporke . thanx konok ato shundor ekta article upohar deyar
jonno. |
Tune
Amar jonmo shangskritik Poribarey..
ami jekhanei jaina keno..Bangla gaan ar songskriti amar shathey shatheyi jabe.
Amar rokter majhe mishey achhe shongeet.
Dhonnobaad.
-Kanak
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hiyaa
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| posted on 7-3-2004 at 10:05 PM |
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apu ur grt
anek valo laglo pore....
janar ache anek kichu
~*Bikel bEla MeGher vEla udAsh MoNe aAj Ekla chOla*~
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osthir
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| posted on 3-7-2004 at 08:17 AM |
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chole jacchilam .. hotath lekhata chokhe porlo.. na pore jete parlam na ..
nice one.. grt job kanak..
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Kanak
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| posted on 3-7-2004 at 08:19 AM |
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| Quote: | Originally posted by osthir
chole jacchilam .. hotath lekhata chokhe porlo.. na pore jete parlam na ..
nice one.. grt job kanak.. |
Thanks osthir
ami kintu likhinai..ami khuje khuje ber korechhi..so credit amar na..
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Pother Shathi
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| posted on 13-9-2004 at 06:34 AM |
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oneke ei likha poreni ... mone hochche ..
Tumi Dukkho Diyecho Bole Amar Kono Dukkho Nei.
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mati_o_manush
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| posted on 13-9-2004 at 06:51 AM |
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nice topic ...onek kisu janlam ...thanks kanak
Ek Mutu Matir Malikana
Koto Chailam Kao Dilona
Shei Amare Dheke Debe
Koto Mati Diye
Jokhon Ami Thakbona
Gaan Shunben Gaan..ClicK here ! [ updated ] mY online Radio 4 u : ) |
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Kobita0gaan
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| posted on 16-9-2004 at 07:59 PM |
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is bangla songs or hindi songs are better?
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Ruhul
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| posted on 16-9-2004 at 08:51 PM |
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Kobita0gaan
is bangla songs or hindi songs are better? |
oboshoiiiiiiiii Bangla songs.........
oboshsho eta amar dristi vongi te bollam  tobe onnoder kache Hindi
better mone hote pare.....
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mati_o_manush
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| posted on 16-9-2004 at 10:04 PM |
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Bangla 
Ek Mutu Matir Malikana
Koto Chailam Kao Dilona
Shei Amare Dheke Debe
Koto Mati Diye
Jokhon Ami Thakbona
Gaan Shunben Gaan..ClicK here ! [ updated ] mY online Radio 4 u : ) |
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