Distortion feared after expiry of Biswabharati copyright

Artistes rendering a Tagore song at the event

None holds the exclusive rights to Tagore's songs, now that Biswabharati does not have the copyright to the songs any more. This has opened a window of opportunities for certain individuals to experiment with Tagore songs and it was the topic of an open discussion held on June 25, third day of the four-day-long 16th Grameen Phone Tagore song Festival, organised by Rabindra Sangeet Shilpi Shangstha (RSSS) at Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Auditorium, Bangladesh Shishu Academy.

Chief guest of the event was Tagore exponent Anup Bhatta-charya. Tapan Mahmud and Kalim Sharafee, general secretary and chairperson of RSSS were among other discussants.

The discussion kicked off with Tapan Mahmud's view on the issue. Tapan said, "According to the copyright act, the creator and his anointed party or individual can hold the rights to the respective literary or musical creations for a period of 50 years. Biswabharati attained the rights to all of Tagore's works in 1941 and the copyright was supposed to expire in 1991. However, due to the urge of genuinely concerned Tagore exponents and artistes, the Indian government extended the term for 10 more years, which ended in 2001. As of now, none owns the sole rights to Tagore songs and that's why the issue regarding distortion of Tagore songs has surfaced."

"Apparently some individuals just couldn't wait to toy with Tagore's masterpieces. This is nothing new, of course. People have tried to mess with his songs in his lifetime. Until now, Biswabharati had published 64 Swarabitans that contain the notations of Tagore songs. But even veteran Tagore exponents, who had the opportunity to learn from Kobiguru himself, had their differences in opinions. For instance, in the 8th Swarabitan, the song Anondodhara bohichey bhuboney sounds different than the way it is performed now. Kanika Banyopadhyay rendered it in a certain way, while Shailajaranjan Majumdar didn't agree with her rendition. Kanika's argument was that she had learnt it from Gurudev, himself.

"However, now that Biswabharati does not have the rights to the songs any more, both fools and pundits are distorting Tagore songs. It's understandable that ignorant individuals would be doing something inane, but for people who claim to be Tagore exponents, to distort his songs, is unacceptable. For instance, a certain renowned artiste has tried to make Tagore songs sound more raag based." -- added Tapan.

Anup Bhattacharya said, "I'll admit that even I have tried to experiment with Tagore's songs, but I couldn't change anything. Tagore left no scope for that. The fact that certain individuals were always trying to experiment with his songs and in the process were distorting them, never bothered Tagore much.

"Bombay Film Industry basically just copied the tune of Tagore's song Mon-e robey ki na robey amarey and produced Bachpan ke din bhula na dena. Tagore couldn't care less, as he was magnanimous enough. Five renowned artistes will definitely sound different even when they are rendering the same Tagore song, because of their unique modulation, vocal range and presentation but there has to be a certain standard format, that everyone will follow."

As it was an open discussion, Mahbubur Rahman from the audience took the stage and shared, "I am concerned because I don't believe that, people who are trying to distort Tagore songs are powerless. Tagore songs are lyric based. However, nowadays quite a few non-acoustic musical instruments are being used, that are disrupting the lyrics of Tagore songs, taking away the essence of the songs."

Pijush Barua, a music teacher said, "The number of audience always beats the number of artistes. I believe, if the audience does not accept distortion of Tagore songs, no matter how hard some certain artistes try, their efforts will be futile."

The discussion was followed by a musical soiree. Artistes of RSSS performed popular Tagore songs such as Esho shyamol shundor, Bojrey tomar bajey banshi, Oi mohamanob ashey and Baandh bhengey dao.

The festival ended yesterday.