Kazi Nazrul Islam (25th May 1899 - 29th August 1976) was fondly remembered through his devotional compositions at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Kolkata. This was the opening day of a ten-day long celebration on the occasion of his 120th birth anniversary organised by ‘Agniveena Nazrul Charcha Kendra’ based on the composer-poet’s oeuvres, popularly known as Nazrulgeeti, that emerged out of the melting pot of Bengal Renaissance of 19th century. This period saw a unique blend of religious and social reformers, patriots, scientists, literary giants and cultural activists. This was the time when great Bengali composer-poets (Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Atul Prasad Sen, Rajanikanta Sen and Dwijendralal Roy) flowered as Pancha-kavi (five poets).
All are overshadowed by Tagore’s imposing persona; but not Nazrul. In fact, Tagore admired this rebel poet, 38-years his junior, to such an extent that he dedicated ‘Basanta’, a play in 1923 to Nazrul who candidly admitted that Tagore’s sophisticated works inspired poets like them while they wrote for the masses. Shocked by Tagore’s death in 1941, Nazrul composed two poems including ‘Rabi-hara’ which was a part of Tagore’s funeral broadcast on the All India Radio. Ironically, within months, Nazrul became a victim of a neurological disease which took away his speech and memory.
Rebellious to religious
Within this short span of his creative life, he had composed four thousand songs apart from other literary and journalistic works. His songs changed from the rebellious to religious explorations at a later stage. He delved deep in both Hindu and Islamic practices and extensively composed over five hundred devotional songs extolling Kali, Shiva, Krishna, Saraswati along with the infinite Brahma and Shakti, the primordial energy. Some of his songs are steeped in Tantric cult while some have captured the essence of Madhura-bhakti of Vaishnavs.
A packed Vivekananda Hall throbbed with these diverse moods when captured by a clutch of eminent singers of Bengali songs belonging to different genres.
Manomay Bhattacharya, the final artiste of the evening, stole the show with his classical trained robust, tensile and intensely emotive voice. He began with a succinct alaap in Udasi Bhairav, a raga invented by Nazrul eschewing the komal dha of Bhairav and incorporating teevra madhyam. It laid the foundation of ‘Sati-hara Udasi Bhairav kaande’ (a desolate Shiva is mourning the loss of Sati), set to Teental, with stunning effect. Next two songs invoking Madhura Bhakti had a romantic appeal. His raga Bageshri based last choice (Sansaarero dolna-te Maa) came as a classic example of kaaku-prayog (dynamism of voice) that beseeched the Mother not to leave her children sleeping in the swing of worldly life where Maya, the stepmother is alluring them. The piety and deep pathos of Bhattacharya’s beckoning as ‘Maa’ at the higher reaches pierced every sensitive soul and moistened eyes.
In the penultimate slot singer-composer Ramanuj Dasgupta, also trained in classical music, presented four songs. The honeyed tone of his malleable voice invoked blessings of ‘Rasa-ghana Shyam Kalyan’, set to teental and the raga mentioned in this oeuvre. The mystic flute was the focal point of the next – having nuances of modern Bengali songs, while ‘Nataraj’ at his creative best in every bend of life was the central point of another song, set to raga Desh and jhaptal, that exuded dhrupad-like power. The tappa-anga based Bhairavi kirtan extolled ‘Brahmamayi janani’, the universal Mother who bears only Brahmins – the micro reflection of the macro Brahma. This simple logic of Nazrul, steeped in ancient Indian philosophy’s unique claim ‘So-aham’, was moving beyond words.
Veteran Nazrulgeeti exponent Nitish Datta Roy began with ‘Kothay tui khunjish Bhagawan’, a ‘nirgun’ influenced by Kabir and Nanak, followed by ‘Jay Vivekananda’ and ‘Mahakaaler kole eshe’ (raga Durga, tala jhaptal) Both exposed Nazrul’s veneration for Swamiji and love for Tantrik canons respectively. Young Ayan Bandyopadhyay’s well-groomed, pliable voice infused the delicacy of Radha-Krishna’s platonic love in ‘Sakhi he, Hari kemon bolo’ and the mood of total surrender in ‘Shyama Maa-er laaglo aagun’ equally effectively. The other two participants were Shubhendu Thakur and Bishwajit Dasgupta who’s renditions could do better with the glow of grit.