This article covers the musics of both Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. These comprise the region of Bengal, unified culturally, linguistically and historically. Its initial partition into East and West Bengal by the British in 1905 led to a great outpouring of nationalist sentiment and was a key moment in the struggle for Independence. Although the partition was reversed in 1911, at Independence in 1947, when the sub-continent was divided into India and Pakistan, Bengal was partitioned into West Bengal and East Bengal (East Pakistan). West Bengal, with a predominantly Hindu population, remained a province in India; East Bengal, with a predominantly Muslim population, became the eastern province of Pakistan with its seat of government in West Pakistan. East Pakistan fought a war of liberation against Islamabad in 1971 and became the sovereign country of Bangladesh.
KARUNĀMAYA GOSWAMĪ
2. Key figures in Bengali music.
Bengali music, §1: History to 1947
The first mention of Bengali music is found in the Buddhist yogic charyāgīti (‘charyā song’) of the 8th to 12th centuries ce. These poems, the earliest written sources in Bengali, use the term rāga and contain specific rāga names, for example Bhairavī, Gunjari and Bangāla (on rāga see India, §III, 2). Buddhism declined rapidly in Bengal with the introduction of devotional Hinduism, particularly that of the 12th-century Vaisnava poet-composer Jayadeva. His Gītagovinda, written in Sanskrit and depicting the sensuous love of Rādhā and Krsna, also mentions rāga names and is claimed by some scholars to be based on dhruvapada form.
The Gītagovinda and the Śri Krsna kīrtana, a song-drama written between 1450 and 1500 by Baru Chandīdāsa and including hundreds of songs based both on rāgas and traditional Bengali forms, served as the musical basis for the flowering of Bengali Vaisnava culture in the early 16th century. This was inspired greatly by Śrī Caitanya (1486–1533), whose spiritual teachings were taken up by poet-composers who composed many padāvalī kīrtana (also known as vaisnaiva gīti) on Rādhā-Krsna love. Narottam Thākur (1531–1587) is regarded as the founder of the Vaisnava music movement, which continued until the end of the 18th century. Initially the songs were based on traditional Bengali melodies, but they later incorporated some elements from Hindustani music, including ālāp.
In the mid-18th century a different tradition of devotional song began to emerge. These were śāktapada sangīt, songs in praise of the goddess as represented by Dūrgā and Kālī, the texts of which were derived in large part from the narrative mangala gāna of the preceding centuries. If padāvalī kīrtana represented the eternal feminine, Rādhā, and masculine, Krsna, śāktapada sangīt exemplified the eternal mother, both compassionate and with terrifying physical features. Rāmprasād Sen (1720–81) set the trend, which was followed by contemporary and later poet-composers, including Kāzi Nazrul Islām (see §2(v) below). Rāmprasād Sen also developed an individual musical style that became known as the ‘melody of Rāmprasād’.
Secular love songs, tappā (see India §IV, 1), were introduced to Bengal at the beginning of the 19th century by Rāmnidhi Gupta (1741–1839). The form was developed by Golām Nabi (1742–92) in Lucknow, and Rāmnidhi Gupta began to sing self-composed Bengali versions of tappā in sessions in Calcutta, achieving rapid and great popularity. This neo-urban music proved to be a turning point in Bengali music. Until this point urban music had been largely devotional, but with the introduction of tappā, urban audiences could hear songs not about divine but about human relationships. Rāmnidhi Gupta's success, and that of the tappā poet Kālidās Chatterjī, inspired many other Bengali poet-composers to follow his model. These included Dāśarathi Ray (1806–57), Śrīdhar Kathak (b 1816), Govinda Adhikārī (1800–72), Āśutoś Deva (1803–56), Kaśiprasād Ghosh (1809–73) and Manomohan Basu (1831–1912).
Rāmnidhi's efforts to connect Bengali with Hindustani genres was also supported by other composers working in various places in Bengal. Devān Raghunāth Ray (1750–1836) from Burdwan and Devān Kārtikeyachandra Ray (1820–85) from Krishnanagar began to compose Bengali songs modelled on khayāl (see India, §III, 5(iii) and (6)), and Rāmśankar Bhattāchārya (1761–1853) from Vishnupur took dhrupad as a model. The Bengali nobility also contributed to the propagation of Hindustani music, emulating the Mughal courts by employing baiji (female singer-dancers), who enjoyed enormous prestige through their skill in performing classical genres. The music most favoured by the aristocracy was commonly known as rāgasangīt (‘song based on rāga’), a style of Bengali song that drew heavily on rāga traditions. This set the scene for the manifold developments in Bengali music of the 19th century.
One of the first genres to emerge as a result of a reinvigorated musical scene in Bengal was the congregational brahma song. These were the prayer-songs associated with Brāhma Dharma, a new religious movement founded by Rāmmohan Ray (1774–1833). The songs were in praise of one indivisible god, in contrast to the worship of many gods, goddesses and avatārs (‘incarnations’) in previous devotional song genres. Rāmmohan Ray was instrumental in composing brahma songs and inspired others to do the same. In 1828 he founded the Brāhma Samāj, which took on responsibility for the propagation of Brāhma Dharma, including the prayer-songs. The idea of congregational singing may have come from Anglican traditions, which the movement's leaders would have observed on their trips to England. Although written in rāga, in performance the songs were often accompanied by piano or harmonium.
Initially the songs were based stylistically on tappā, but when the dhrupad specialist Visnu Chakravartī was invited to join the Brāhma Samāj as a music teacher, the songs soon became associated with dhrupad. When Rāmmohan Ray died in England, the leadership of the sect passed to Devendranāth Tagore (1817–1905), an admirer of dhrupad who wanted all brahma songs to be performed in this style. The division of the sect by two breakaway factions, the Indian Brahma Society, founded in 1866 by Keśav Chandra Sen (1838–84), and the General Brahma Society, founded in 1878 by Śivnāth Śāstrī (1847–1919) and Ānandamohan Basu (1847–1906), reflected a musical split. The two new factions adopted popular forms, including padāvalī kīrtan, as a basis for their prayer-songs, while dhrupad remained the principal basis for the prayer-songs of the old Brāhma Samāj, one of the greatest composers of which was Rabindranath Tagore (see §2(i) below).
Bengali patriotic songs, svadeśī gān, are a product of the struggle for self-government in South Asia. The genre began to grow from the second half of the 19th century, and the sentiments it expresses were first heard in the poems and songs of Iśwar Chandra Gupta (1812–59), who had many followers, including poets and social reformers. The history of Bengali patriotic song may be said to date from 1867, with the organizing of the annual Hindu Melā exhibition. This was undertaken by the prominent nationalist Navagopāl Mitra and patronized by the Jorāsānko Tagore household. It was an occasion to display rural goods, watch traditional physical feats and, most importantly, to sing patriotic songs. The organizers saw this as a means of reaching many people at one event with their political message.
It is not known which songs were performed at the first melā, but the second session was inaugurated by a heroic song with a text by Satyendranāth Tagore and music by Visnu Chakravartī. This song became very popular and prompted others to compose patriotic songs for subsequent sessions, which continued until 1880. Dwijendranāth Tagore, the younger brother of Satyendranāth, wrote a song describing the miseries of British rule, and these songs from the two brothers set the two dominant styles for subsequent songs, either heroic or mournful. Other composers of patriotic songs include Jyotirindranāth Tagore, Manomohan Basu, Ganendranāth Tagore, Hemchandra Bandyopādhyāy, Govinda Chandra Ray, Visnuram Chattopādhyāy and Rangalāl Bandyopādhyāy. Rabindranath Tagore contributed songs to some of the later Hindu Melā. The founding of professional theatre in Calcutta in 1872 provided another platform for patriotic song, as did the setting up of the Indian National Congress (1885), whose sessions invariably included the singing of svadeśī gān.
If the first phase of Bengali patriotic song was triggered by the Hindu Melā of 1867, the second was due to the opposition to the partitioning of Bengal (1905–11) by Lord Curzon. The first patriotic songs were written mostly in Calcutta and drew on the traditions of Hindustani music and occasionally Western music. In contrast, the songs in opposition to the partition were greatly influenced by traditional Bengali music, particularly bāul gān (see §III, 1 below). Rabindranath Tagore was very active in this movement, along with other composers including Dwijendralāl Ray, Rajani Kānta Sen, Mukunda Dās, Atulprasād Sen, Kāliprasanna Kavyaviśarad, Amritalāl Basu, Pramathnāth Ray Chaudhuī, Vijay Chandra Majumdar, Aświni Kumar Datta, Sarala Devi Chaudhurani, Kāmini Kumar Bhattāchārya and Manomohan Chakravartī. When the plan for partition of Bengal was rescinded in 1911 the enthusiasm for Bengali patriotic songs waned, and by this time many of the chief musical exponents of the movement had either died or retired. However, with the massacre of peaceful protestors by the British at Jalianwallahbag, Amritsar (1919), and the start of the non-cooperation movement (1920–21) by Mahatma Gandhi, patriotic song began to flourish again in Bengal, harnessed to the independence struggle. The chief composer of patriotic song at this time was Kāzi Nazrul Islām (see §2(v) below).
Bengali music, §1: History to 1947
Educated in the Indian and Western music systems, Jyotirindranāth Tagore (1849–1925), son of Devendranāth Tagore, systematized the urban music of Bengal and tried to put it into a framework based on Western music. He founded a music school, published music journals and developed a notation system to preserve and teach music. He propagated the concept of written music as opposed to the Indian improvisatory oral tradition and fought a hard battle to establish the absolute right of the composer over a composition. His work prefaces the achievements of the five great poet-composers of Bengal, namely, Rabindranath Tagore, Dwijendralāl Ray, Rajanikānta Sen, Atulprasād Sen and Kāzi Nazrul Islām. The songs of these poet-composers are usually identified by proper names: Rabīndrasangīt (‘songs of Rabindranath [Tagore]’), Dwijendragīti (‘songs of Dwijendralāl [Ray]’), Rajanikānter gān (‘songs of Rajanikānta [Sen]’), Atulprasāder gān (‘songs of Atulprasād [Sen]’) and Nazrulgīti (‘songs of [Kāzi] Nazrul [Islām]’). A further figure who may be mentioned here is Dilip Kumar Ray (1897–1980), who was known for his vocal ability and knowledge of Indian and Western musicology. His compositional style was based on ‘light’ classical music and padāvalī kīrtan. However, his retirement to Auroville in 1928 cut short his musical career.
Considered by many to be the greatest Bengali poet, songwriter and composer, Rabindranath Tagore was the first non-European to receive the Nobel Prize for literature (1913) and was the composer of some 2500 songs. He classified his songs into four major categories: pūjā (‘worship’), svadeś (‘homeland’), prem (‘love’) and prakriti (‘nature’), and two minor ones, vichitra (‘variety’) and ānushthānik (‘ceremonial’).
Tagore composed about 650 pūjā songs for the Brāhma Samāj (see §1(iii) above). These were written in a style influenced by dhrupad, and even though as a religious movement Brāhma Dharma has declined, Tagore's brahmasangīt are still popular. He also wrote some 70 svadeśī or patriotic songs, mostly composed during the Swadeshi movement, including My Golden Bengal, I Love You, which is now the national anthem of Bangladesh. In these he drew on traditional bāul gān, a move that proved very influential for subsequent Bengali urban music. He wrote nearly 300 nature songs, stylistically close to khayāl and tappā, and more than 400 love-songs. His ‘ceremonial’ songs were written to cover a wide range of occasions, such as a farewell reception or the sinking of a tubewell.
Tagore was also responsible for the genre nrtya-nātya (‘dance-drama’), which he developed in the 1930s out of his gītinātya (‘song-drama’) composed in the late-19th century. He was apparently inspired by diverse musical theatre forms in India (particularly kathakali), the West, China, Indonesia and Japan. The texts are based on Hindu and Buddhist legends. The nrtya-nātya are performed by dancers (who present the story in mime), singers (who sing dialogues and choruses) and accompanying instrumentalists. There is no scenery, only a backdrop of floral designs. The musicians sit on the floor behind a decorated screen, about 30 cm high, at the rear of the stage. His best known nrtya-nātya are Chitrāngada and Chandālika (both 1936).
Brought up in the Jorāsānko Tagore household, known as the centre of the Old Brahma Society, he was exposed to many dhrupad performances, and on many occasions he said that his compositional style was greatly shaped by the dhrupad tradition, particularly his adoption of its four-part textual structure (see India, §III, 5(iii)(a)). He also pursued the concept of composed music and pioneered the rights of a composer over a composition. He was very careful in teaching his music and preparing its notation, grooming a generation of performers to pass on his compositions unchanged.
Dwijendralāl Ray is mostly known for his patriotic and humorous songs and for the style he created out of a combination of rāga and the melodic patterns of Western music. He also combined khayāl and tappā to create a third style known as tap-khayāl. Brought up in a rich musical environment and educated in India and England, Dwijendralāl Ray possessed a wide knowledge of both Indian and Western music. His love-songs and devotional songs are also remarkable in respect to popularity and quality. He made use of kīrtana and bāul genres in devotional and love-songs, and he was also a dramatist. Most of his songs were performed on stage, contributing to the rising popularity of Bengali stage music.
Predominantly known for his devotional songs, which draw on khayāl and tappā, Rajanikānta Sen created a large body of Bengali devotional music that is easily distinguished from that of his contemporaries by his highly individual approach to composition. He took part in the movement opposed to the partition of Bengal and composed a number of songs inspired by the movement's idealism. The best known Bengali song on the boycotting of foreign goods was composed by him.
A barrister who lived in Lucknow, Atulprasād Sen's prime contribution to Bengali music was to make thumrī an integral part of Bengali urban music. He himself composed many songs in a thumrī style (see India, §III, 5(iii)(c)) and also pioneered the idea of composing Bengali ghazal, writing 210 songs in all. Like Rabindranath Tagore, he classified his songs into four broad groups: devatā (‘god’), prakriti (‘nature’), mānava (‘man’) and svadeś (‘homeland’). In addition to composing using the ‘lighter’ Hindustani styles, he also adopted elements of kīrtan and bāul genres.
Kāzi Nazrul Islām, whose career ran from around 1920 to 1942, wrote nearly 3000 song texts, composing the music for hundreds of them. He joined HMV in the first half of 1928 and subsequently worked for all the other recording companies in Calcutta as a songwriter, composer and trainer. He worked with sound film in Calcutta from its inception in 1931 and with the Bengali theatre, contributing significantly to the development of stage music. His contribution to Calcutta radio's music programme is also substantial.
Known as the rebel–poet of Bengal for his staunch anti-British attitudes, he created a new genre of Bengali patriotic songs reflecting a fiery heroic sentiment. He also wrote songs raising Muslim consciousness and songs promoting Hindu–Muslim harmony, composing devotional pieces for both communities. He pioneered the concept of Islamic songs in Bengali urban music, and his compositions on the goddess Kāli and Rādhā–Krsna love are still widely sung. By composing a number of songs with socialist themes, he laid the foundations in Bengal of what later became known as ‘people's music’. Building on the compositions of Atulprasād Sen, Nazrul Islām experimented with the Bengali ghazal and established an academic basis for the genre.
He is credited with reviving rāgas that were being forgotten, as well as creating new ones. He is also regarded as the founder of a style of khayāl-based Bengali song known as rāg pradhān gān. Nazrul Islām also contributed to the new urban musics being created around the commercial recording industry and to the development of the film song. These marked a move away from traditional practices in that a lyric writer, composer and singer cooperated to produce a finished product. The compositional style aimed at entertaining filmgoers and record-buyers and grew out of a combination of many genres, such as khayāl, tappā, thumrī, ghazal, dhun and kīrtan. Nazrul Islām embraced these developments, and his use of traditional music models, particularly of jhumar, a Santāl dance and song genre, was an important addition to these new musics.
Contemporaries who worked alongside Kāzi Nazrul Islām in the 1930s and 40s include the songwriters Hiren Basu, Hemendra Kumār Ray, Tulsi Lāhiri, Anil Bhattachārya, Ajay Bhattachārya, Pranab Ray, Subodh Purakāyastha, Shailen Ray, Vani Kumār, Sourindramohan Mukhopādhyāy, Premendra Mitra and Dhirendranāth Mukhopādhyāy; the composers and music directors Hiren Basu, Hemendra Kumār Ray, Tulsi Lāhiri, Vinay Goswāmī, Himāngsu Datta, Nitāi Matilāl, Kamal Dās Gupta, Suval Dās Gupta, Krishna Chandra De, Shailesh Datta Gupta, Chitta Ray, Rāichand Varāl, Vishenchānd Barāl and Pankaj Kumār Mallik; and the singers K. Mallik, Āngur Bālā, Indu Bālā, Harimati, Kamalā Jhariā, Rādhārāni, Shaila Devi, K.C. De, Kānan Devi, Juthikā Ray, Shachin Dev Barman, Abbasuddin Ahmed, Satya Chaudhury, Mrināl Kānti Ghosh, Jaganmay Mitra, Suprabhā Sarkar and Kundanlāl Sāigal.
Bengali music, §1: History to 1947
Bengali film music grew out of the music of Bengali professional theatre and has come to dominate the modern musical scene since the inception of sound film in Calcutta in 1931 and the subsequent use of play-back singing. Initially Bengali film music was shaped by the writers and directors Hiren Basu, Pankaj Kumār Mallik, Rāichand Varal, K.C. De and Kamal Dās Gupta. Although at first the songs were based on ‘light’ Hindustani genres, songwriters and composers have subsequently turned to other more popular and often international genres for inspiration. This has caused some commentators to make unfavourable comparisons with earlier film scores, which they claim have an identifiably Bengali character.
The Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) was founded in 1943 in opposition to international imperialism and fascism. It had a great effect across the country and initiated, in Bengal in particular, a music movement known as ‘people's music’. The principal inspiration for this music movement came from the cultural programme of the Communist Party of India and the IPTA, whose activists wanted to reach the working-class people in Bengal with the message of their struggle to restructure society on a socialist model. Vinay Ray, Jyotirindra Maitra, Hemānga Biswās and Salil Chaudhurī who initiated the movement as songwriters, composers and organizers, were quickly joined by many other activists, and the movement that began in Calcutta soon spread to Bengali villages.
Urban music in West Bengal has largely been confined to film and record production. All India Radio Calcutta also played a role, while television ownership has only recently become at all widespread. A group of talented songwriters, composers and performers joined those who had been working from the 1930s: Mohinī Chaudhurī, Śyamal Gupta, Gauripasanna Majumdār, Pulak Bandyopādhyāy and Shivadās Bandyopadhyay as lyric writers; Anupam Ghatak, Rabin Chattopādhyāy, Hemanta Mukhopādhyāy, Nachiketa Ghosh, Salil Chaudhurī, Dilip Sarkār, Sudhin Dāsgupta, Pravir Majumdār, Abhijit Bandyopādhyāy and Anal Chattopādhyāy as composers; and a generation of singers, including Hemanta Mukhopādhyāy, Dhananjay Bhattācharya, Pānnalal Bhattāchārya, Śyamal Mitra, Satināth Mukhopādhyāy and Manavendra Mukhopādhyāy. The songs of Rabindranath Tagore are becoming increasingly popular again with an educated urban élite, and Nazrulgīti have retained their popularity. The ‘people's music’ movement, after its extremely popular initial impact, suffered a setback due to ideological divisions within the Communist Party and its subsequent split into the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Urban music in Bangladesh took two different directions, patriotic and modern song. Patriotic songs, like those leading up to Independence in 1947, grew out of popular protest. The people of East Pakistan were seen by the government in West Pakistan as a population to be dominated and exploited. Organized protest in East Pakistan against West Pakistan started as early as 1948, on the status of Bengali as a state language. The Language Movement reached its culmination on 21 February 1952, when demonstrating students and other activists were fired upon and killed by the police. This marked the beginning of a popular struggle that culminated, under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in the War of Liberation in 1971, which lead to the founding of the independent nation of Bangladesh. The songs that accompanied the movement were often those of Rabindranath Tagore, Dwijendralāl Ray, Rajanikānta Sen, Atulprasād Sen and Kāzi Nazrul Islām, and they became powerful symbols of Bengali nationalism. In addition, songs of IPTA were sung. Poets and composers from East Pakistan also worked together to produce a repertory of patriotic song, including the great song of the Language Movement of 1952, Can I Forget 21 February, Tinged with my Brother's Blood?, with a text by Ābdul Gaffār Chaudhury and music by Āltāf Māhmud.
During the nine months of the War of Liberation a group of songs, now known as the songs of the Liberation War, were regularly broadcast from the Independent Bangladesh Radio Station. They included songs of the earlier movements and the principal song of the freedom struggle, My Golden Bengal, I Love You by Rabindranath Tagore, which subsequently became the national anthem of Bangladesh. Songs that were newly composed include the extremely popular Victory to Bangladesh and Victory to Bangladesh, Bangladesh will Win.
Before partition all institutional support for popular urban song had been located in Calcutta. Dhaka did not possess the infrastructure to produce records and films; radio was the only medium that was established. Film production started up in the early 1960s and television later in the decade. There was little development from record companies. Despite these initial limitations, composers and lyric writers worked in close cooperation during the 1950s and 60s and built up a body of popular song that provided the foundations for contemporary musical activity in Bangladesh. Composers, lyric writers and performers who have contributed to the development of music in Bangladesh include the composers Ābdul Āhad, Yusuf Khān Quoreshi, Ābdul Hālim Chaudhuri, Samar Dās, Kāder Zāmeri, Khādem Hussain Khān, Sheikh Lutfur Rahmān, Sheikh Mohitul Huq, Dhir Āli, Mansur Āli, Āltaf Māhmud, Rabin Ghosh, Khān Ātāur Rahmān, Subal Dās, Satya Sāhā, Khandakār Nurul Ālam, Āzad Rahmān and Sujeya Śyām; the writers Sikandār Ābu Jāfar, Sayed Sidiqui, Māsud Karim, Āzizur Rahmān, Ābdul Latif, Khān Ātāur Rahmān, Mohammed Maniruzzāmān, Abu Hena Mostafā Kāmāl and Gāzi Mazhārul Ānwar; and the performers Feroza Begum, Āfsari Khānam, Husnā Bānu, Sanjidā Khātun, Fāhmida Khātun, Ajit Ray, Āltaf Māhmud, Jāhedur Rahim, Sukhendu Chakrabartī, Ātiqul Islām, Ānjuman Āra Begum, Ferdousi Rahmān, Ābdul Jabbār and Nilufar Yāsmin.
Although Bengal has strong and diverse rural musical traditions that have influenced many of the urban musics described above, the flow of urban media into rural districts is now displacing traditional musics, with the result that many are now no longer performed. Bengal is also home to a considerable Ādivāsī population, one group of which are the Santāls, who live in the Burdwan and Birbhum Districts of West Bengal and the northern parts of Bangladesh (see also India, §VII, 3). They perform the dance and song genre jhumar, usually accompanied by a bamboo flute and a Madar drum, which like bāul gān, has been influential on urban Bengali composers, including Kazi Nazrul Islām.
Baul is a Bengali heterodox religious sect, characterized by its male and female followers' rejection of caste and scripture-based ideals and their assertion that the mind and body are the paths to enlightenment, in part derived from the bhakti (‘devotional’) Vaisnava traditions of Śrī Caitanya. Song (known as bāul gān) and dance are important elements of devotion and a means of earning a living for Baul mendicants, and their songs are widely known and popular throughout Bengal, perhaps due to the interest shown by composers such as Rabindranath Tagore. There is, in theory, no one situation that is considered most appropriate for the performance of bāul gān, and a Baul may be reluctant to perform texts that deal with secret beliefs in public. However, there are collective situations, melā (‘fairs’) and utsab, where it would be considered odd if a Baul did not perform.
The Jayadeva Melā held at Kenduli is one of the most popular religious fairs in Bengal. The large crowds attracted to the event, which lasts for a couple of days, provide good audiences for the Bauls who provide entertainment, often performing for long stretches of time. A slightly different environment is provided by the Pous Melā, held at Rabindranath Tagore's school, Santiniketan. The performances at this event tend to be folklorized, with scheduled times, a performance platform and a largely educated and middle-class audience. An utsab is a smaller gathering, often organized by an individual family or religious group, where the music-making is more collective and the festivities domestic. These may also take place on the anniversary of a famous Baul, at their place of burial or worship. The annual Baul Festival in Kustia in Bangladesh (in memory of Lālan Sāh, the greatest Baul poet of Bengal), has now acquired national status.
The songs themselves, while not explicitly stated to be in particular rāgas, do bear some relation to classical rāgas in scale forms and characteristic melodic phrases. Baul musics are to a certain extent identified by the instruments they play to accompany their own singing. The most characteristic of these are: the Variable tension chordophone instruments gōpīyantrā and khamak; the dōtārā, a four-stringed plucked chordophone; ghunur and nūpur, ankle bells; and the duggi, a small kettledrum with a clay body, frequently paired with the gōpīyantrā.
Bhātiāli are boatmen's songs, sung by people in the low-lying river regions of West Bengal and Bangladesh. They are characterized by long melodic phrases that move from a middle register, via clusters of pitches, to a high concluding pitch. There are references in medieval texts to a rāga Bhātiāli or Bhātiāri, which some musicologists assert has a connection with the present-day genre. Other songs that have a connection with boats are sārigān. This is a collective term for ‘work song’, and their quick tempos and regular rhythms may be seen as an inducement to physical labour. One of the best known types of sārigān is that sung for boat racing by the crew, accompanied by a thin brass gong or a drum. With the mechanization of physical work sārigān are fast disappearing.
Bhaowāiyā denotes diverse genres originating in the high and dry land of Rangpur in Bangladesh and Coochbihar in West Bengal. One of these is a vocal genre associated with bullock-cart drivers. Bhaowāiyā have a characteristic ‘voice break’, when the singer momentarily interrupts the melody with a plosive sound. A further genre associated with occupation is jhāpān, the snake charmers' song. Previously, nomadic groups of snake-charmers, often travelling by boat, would catch snakes, treat snake bites and display snakes for entertainment. They would accompany these activities with songs in praise of Manasā, the snake goddess.
Chau is a dance-drama found in Purulia district, West Bengal, and in adjoining areas in Bihar and Orissa (see India, §IX, 2(i)(a)). The narrative songs, which are believed to be derived from jhumar, have mythological texts. A song genre widely performed in the Rajshahi district of Bangladesh and the Maldaha district of West Bengal is gambhīrā. The genre name refers to Śiva, and previously these were songs addressed to the deity. This is no longer the case; they are now narrative compositions, combining singing, dancing and acting that deal with everyday affairs, often expressing problems that rural people confront. Ballad recitation traditionally known as puthipāth (‘reading’) is a form of singing. The bayāti, which here means ‘reader’, sings the narrative by chanting a melody made of three or four notes.
Jārigān, a narrative genre of the Muslim community, began as a commemoration of the Karbala massacre (680 ce), in which one of the grandsons of Hazrat Muhammad was killed. Present-day jārigān also comprises secular stories (mythological and historical) as well as religious and political themes. The music unfolds through solo narrative and strophic singing by the bayāti (‘leader’), and at the end of each section the chorus (dohār) sings a refrain in a faster tempo. The jāri ensemble is led by a double-headed drum and includes a harmonium, small brass cymbals and bells, all played by members of the chorus. The dohār stand around the leader, who sways, crouches and swings both hands to signal their entry.
The general Bengali term for sung drama is pālāgān, of which the most popular rural form is yātra. This developed towards the end of the 18th century and, although mostly spoken, is heavily dependent on songs, music and dance. The plots are based on religious and historical subjects, and the performance requires colourful costumes and make-up. A raised, square platform serves as an open-air stage, and the audience sits on all sides. The stage and the audience are sheltered by a large canopy about nine metres above the ground. The instrumental ensemble sits on the floor close to the stage. This consists of Western instruments such as saxophone, trumpet, clarinet, violin and harmonium, and local ones such as jhāñj (cymbals), khanjani (small cymbals), mandirā (paired brass idiophones) and dhol. The performance begins with a long, slow instrumental prelude, which also acts as an interlude between sections and concludes the performance. Yātra usually begin at 9 or 10 p.m. and continue almost until dawn. Participants in a yātra usually belong to a guild; a single performance may require more than 30 performers, including actors, dancers and musicians.
Although not strictly a narrative genre, kavigān revolves around a question from mythological literature. It takes the form of a poetic contest between two singing parties, each led by a kaviyāl, the leading poet, who is supported by a singing group called the dohār. One poet–singer performs his extemporized ‘questions’ and challenges his opponent to refute them with ‘answers’. The performance is divided into several sections interspersed with breaks. The audience judges the contest and chooses the winner on the strength of the performers' use of alliteration, puns, imagery and wit. This complex tradition developed during the late 18th and mid-19th centuries and is equally popular in urban and rural areas. Letogān is a similar genre found in Burdwan District in West Bengal. It includes acting and dance, and the leading poet is called the godākavi.
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