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Rabindra Sangeet exponent Swastika Bandhopadhyay talks about this genre and keeping it alive I get lost in my songs and then I think those are my best work; if all my poetry is forgotten all my songs will remain with my countrymen; they have a great beauty; I leave them a legacy — Rabindranath Tagore Eulogising the supreme intuitive power of realisation of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore and his superb skill in depicting his comprehension through lyrical creations is Swastika Mukhopadhaya, a leading exponent of Rabindra Sangeet from Visvabharati, Santiniketan. Credited with 10 music albums by leading music companies, scores of performances and music workshops in India, Bangladesh and Japan, the foundation of Swastika’s illustrious career was laid early in the learning environment of eminent musicians Dr Gobindagopal and Madhuri Mukhopadhayay.
She grew up singing songs of idols like D. L. Roy, Dilip Kumar Roy, Atul Parsada, Rajnikanto and others before she reinvented herself `A0for her calling in Rabindra Sangeet as she joined Viswabharati for studies. Her musical skills attained a new high under the blessed tutelage of Nilima Sen, a doyenne of `A0Rabindra Sangeet, and she is toady a regular performer at AIR, on TV channels and a sought-after artiste for live concerts. In the city recently to direct the music and perform vocal renditions for Gurudev’s masterpiece ballet "Chitrangada" staged by their repertory in the festival of Tagore’s works, she shared her love for Rabindra Sangeet and her work as an exponent of Bengali music. What inspires you in the persona of Gurudev? Rabindranath Tagore was a genius and a complete artiste whose visual and literary works will continue to inspire the art lovers in the world for all times to come. Could you elaborate on Rabindra Sangeet? Rabindra Sangeet has been broadly categorised as the music of nature (prakriti parja), music of romance (prem parja), spiritual music (pooja parja) or dance drama music (natya sangeet) or miscellaneous music (vichitar parja). In prakriti parja, the music and dance compositions had a significant representation of all six seasons, while prem parja denotes devotional (nirakar brahm but not idol worship) and romantic songs. Music dominates in his plays or dance dramas, be it Chandalika, Balmiki Protibha, Chitrangada, Shaap Mochan, Maya Chhala, Tashir Desh and others. Rabindra Sangeet is a blend of classical and folk or devotional music, which makes it so popular. Is it popular in other states as well as in other countries also? Yes, it has been blossoming in foreign lands where Gurudev had composed his songs in western music. Sample popular numbers "Ami chini go chini tumhare," "Shundro bote tobo ang dukhani," to name a few. Even in your city Chandigarh, Rabindra Sangeet maestros Debhanjan Halder and Shubhasish Hazra are keeping the flag of this genre afloat. What are your impressions of the`A0cultural grasp of the city’s art lovers? It was indeed a thrilling experience to find the people in Chandigarh so warm, affectionate and helpful, besides having a profound knowledge of Bengali culture and an in-depth understanding of the socio-cultural content of Tagore’s works. We express our deep
gratitude to the Tagore Theatre Society and the administration of City
Beautiful for holding the mega 11-day festival.
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