A UNIQUE GENRE

Rabindrasangit is unique as a musical genre in three respects. First, here high poetry blends seamlessly into high music, producing a new synthesis, a third entity. It is this x-factor, going beyond a mere match of lyric and tune, that differentiates Rabindrasangit from any other musical genre. Several notable contemporaries of Tagore like Dwijendralāl Rāy, Atulprasād Sen, Rajanikānta Sen, and Kāzi Nazrul Islām have achieved an impressive combination of beautiful words and appropriate notes, each in his own way. But only in Rabindrasangit do we find this special communion of poetry and music, each influencing the other and losing its exclusive identity in the process.

Second, in purely musical terms, disparate elements mingle imperceptibly to form a new integral whole. The dramatist Dwijendralal Ray, who was well versed in Hindustāni classical music, wrote perceptively to Tagore on 25 March 1896, before an unfortunate rift in their relationship:

This is why highly trained classical singers often find it difficult to render Tagore's apparently simple songs: the ‘spices’ cause the main melody to deviate arbitrarily from the standard structure of a rāga. Some even try to ‘correct’ the ‘untrained’ Tagore, thereby robbing Rabindrasangit of its essence. Needless to say, Tagore has been widely charged with impairing the rigour and purity of the structures of classical music.