Rediscovering Tagore

The musical links Reba Som and Karan Singh at the launch

The Singer and His Song” – a biography of writer-poet Rabindranath Tagore authored by Reba Som and published by Penguin Books India was launched recently.

Som was the recipient of the Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship in 2000 and is the director of ICCR Kolkata’s cultural flagship – the Rabindranath Tagore Centre.

She has authored other books on history and historical figures, namely “Subhas Chandra Bose and the Resolution of the Women’s Question” (Centre for Women’s Development Studies, New Delhi, 2002), “Gandhi , Bose, Nehru and the Making of the Modern Indian Mind” (Penguin Viking, New Delhi, 2004). On her shift from history to biography, she said, “It was a realisation that existing books do not have that thrust.”

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.

It is illustrated with photographs and paintings that are crucial to the understanding of Tagore as a musician.

Som said, “Music was the thread that knit his (Tagore’s) entire creative process.”

The mystical nature of Tagore’s lyrics is also a product of his affinity to the wandering bards — the Bauls.

The influence of Baul songs can be seen in Tagore’s Rabindra Sangeet. Tagore puts the Bauls on a higher-than-respectable level by his praise of the beauty of their songs and spirit, and by his frank and proud acknowledgement of his own poetic debt to them.

Karan Singh launched the book, which contained a CD ofRabindra Sangeet recitals by eminent singers, including the author. Singh said the book is a “beautiful introduction to Tagore”.

He also quoted from Krishna Kriplani’s biography of Tagore, “Tagore had a way of living… manly without being brutal; sensitive without being sentimental; patriotic without being chauvinistic.”

The book is priced at Rs. 599

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