Kabir Suman, who helped redefine modern Bangla music with a large number of stunningly fresh compositions, is credited to make a whole new generation to bump into Tagore songs, too. The musical consciousness of Bangalees – on both sides of the border as well as elsewhere – discovered a brand new style in his rendition of Rabindra Sangeet, mostly accompanied by piano and guitar.
Suman rejuvenated Tagore’s songs Tumi Shondyar Meghomala, Bhalobeshe Shokhi Nibhrito Jotone, Tumi Ki Keboli Chhobi and Je Chhilo Amar Swaponocharini, to name just a few, through his style of singing.
What was your first orientation to Tagore music?
I heard Rabindranather gaan [songs of Tagore] as soon as I could register what I heard at all. I heard them from my parents, both of whom were trained singers in their time. My father had done several First Basic recordings solo and with my mother four First Basic recordings (duet) in the 1940s. First Basic means a song recorded for the first time for gramophone. For example, Amar Shonar Bangla was recorded by my father for a film. That was probably the First Basic. Tumi Shondhyar Meghomala too. There are quite a few. His trainer was the famous Shoilojaranjon. He was my parents’ trainer too for their duet recording. I absorbed music of all genres right from my childhood. I found songs of Himangshu Dutta equally nice and as a two-and-a-half years old I was particularly fond of Kazi Nazrul Islam’s “Rimjhim rimjhimjhim ghono deya boroshe” because of its rhythm. My mother told me about that later. I used to play the drums on any book that someone had to hold for me. Rabindranather gaan was not very special in that time.
What was the first Tagore song you sang in public?
Badoldhara Holo Shara Bajey Biday Shur
What is Tagore’s impact on your musical journey?
Rabindranather gaan was not something that was “out there.” I grew up with the songs. My father, a great trainer, started giving me music lessons, mostly Rabindranather gaan, when I was six. I heard lots of his songs on the radio in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. Gradually, I started to learn those songs also from the great teacher Niharbindu Sen and his wife Geeta Sen who was a popular Rabindra Sangeet artiste too. And my father was always there to teach me more and more. I started broadcasting the songs from the All India Radio, Kolkata, in the general programme when I was seventeen. My first gramophone record was Rabindranather gaan which was published in 1972. The great Subinoy Ray was my trainer. In 1973, my second Rabindra-gaan record was out. I made the First Basic for Helephela Sharabela and Nach Shyama Taletale. – I am saying all this to make it clear that Rabindranather gaan was very much in me all along. But when I started to make songs in 1975 I did not find any urge to follow him. However, unknowingly I imbibed the idea of a song (a form in which the melody goes hand in hand with the lyric) from Rabindranath. Probably, I am the most Rabindra-influenced song maker after Rabindranath, in the sense that lyric has been of great importance to me…and the song structure.
Do you find Tagore the same as you found him in your childhood?
How could that be? The older I grow the more I discover his nuances. I love about 50 of his songs which, I think, equal the compositional mastery of the greatest Western composers. I don’t like whatever he made. There are some Rabindra-songs that I find musically boring, like Shesh Nahi Je Shesh Kotha Ke Bolbe and some of his “Brohmo-sangeet.” I am critical about him just as I am critical about everyone else. But at 65, I find him closer to me, much closer than he was before. I live with those of his songs that make me wonder how a man, born in 1861, could compose such melodies and structures. How could he create that simple solution to a self-created musical problem in making the song She Ki Elo. The simplicity yet absolute mastery is unbelievable, unfathomable. That shonchari is like Chinese and Japanese line drawings. I live with him. I, alone, hold debates and conversations with him. He is impossible. I know I shall die with him.
What would be your question if you met Tagore and were allowed to ask only one question?
Why did you not make piano the instrument for your songs and not the esraj which does not do justice to the structure of many of your songs?
What in your opinion is the biggest mystery in Tagore?
How on earth did he make songs like Tomar Holo Shuru, Aji Je Rojoni Jay, Tumi Robe Nirobe, Ke Jabi Pare Ogo Tora Ke, Na Go Na Koro Na Bhabna, Birosh Din Birol Kaj, Momo Dukkher Shadhon, Amar Ei Poth Chawatei Anondo and so many others in such an era? How could he create the miracle? There was nothing before him and in the 19th century which could have been an example for him. I wish I could interview him!
