The Influence of Different Music Traditions on Rabindra Sangit

Abstract

Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore was a gigantic Indian personality born in 20th century. As a poet, novelist, musician, composer, philosopher, educationalist, painter and environmentalist, the contribution of Rabindranath to Bengali literature and music is significant. Rabindranath Tagore built a school at Santiniketan. This school is known as Brahmacharyashram. Music Dancing Art and Sculpture are the main aesthetic subjects that every and each student should be learned a part of their ordinary subjects in this school. Tagore invented the finest music tradition for the students of his school which is well-known as Rabindra Sangit. He wrote Rabindra Sangit and set melodies for these songs by himself and taught them for the students of Brahmacharyashram. Today, it has become a separate music tradition which is spread in India and elsewhere. The research problem of this research can be stated as ‘Is there any influence of different music traditions on Rabindra Sangit?’. The objective of this paper is to analyse the influence of different music traditions on Rabindra Sangit. To examine the extent to which different musical traditions influenced the formation of Rabindra Sangit and to determine whether it is an independent musical tradition or one derived from earlier traditions. This paper argues that the Rabindra Sangit is a mixture of Hindustani music, Carnatic music, Western music, Folk music of West Bengal and other regional music styles prevalent in India. As such, this research examines the similarity between the songs of Rabindranath and the other songs belong to different music traditions. This study employs qualitative, exploratory, desk-based research using historical and content analysis of books, journal articles, musical scores, recordings, and online resources. This research concludes that Rabindra Sangit is strongly influenced by Hindustani classical music, Bengali folk music, Western music, Carnatic music, and other regional musical traditions while maintaining its own unique musical identity.