The Bengali residents of Greater Noida commemorated Rabindranath Tagore’s 157th Birth Anniversary with a musical procession on Saturday, 12 May. Tagore’s Birthday is an auspicious event in the Bengali calendar. He was born in Calcutta, then in British India, in 1861. The people in and from Bengal celebrate this day with various art forms like music, dance, poetry, painting and theatre all across the world. This is an occasion to showcase their music and art. Quote obviously the musical compositions for a Tagore related event are chosen from the Master’s book of songs Gitabitan. The celebration in Greater Noida was a unique one where the participants sang some popular and some less popular Tagore songs together while walking down the lanes of sector Alpha 1. In the Bengali tradition such a procession is called probhat-pheri. There was an effigy of Tagore installed on a cycle van and this was decorated beautifully with the garlands of jasmine and marigold, and some seasonal flowers. The musical accompaniments were simple – harmonium, khol and mandira, but the songs performed by the participants filled the air with an unforgettable melodious tune. One of the organisers Mrs Urmi Bhattacharjee said that they selected those songs which could be sung in chorus. She said most of these songs belonged to the genre of patriotic songs composed during the freedom movement. The participants were in traditional Bengali attire – men in kurta-pajama and women in cotton sarees – which created a delightful scene. Some children from Greater Noida schools also joined this event. They sang Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite Tagore song: Jodi tor dak shune keu na ashe, tobe ekla chalo re (If no one hears your call then you must walk alone). The accompanist Ganesh Sarkar in his traditional instrument khol made a perfect balance with all the songs; mandira was played by Naresh Das. One of the organisers Suvadip Bhattacharjee played the harmonium. Throughout the procession there was a flavour of Tagore’s very own Bengal and his great musical tradition that is compared with the other classical gharanas. The procession ended at the green park Ashok Vatika where a few songs were also sung together. Sushanto Chakrabarti recited the poem “Abhishar” in his trained voice. The final song in the programme was the National Anthem composed by the bard himself. Everyone in the park stood up to pay their homage to Tagore and our India.
Good to see the news of Tagore Carnival up on the news portal. Thanks for being there.