To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the publication of Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘Geetabitan’ in the year of 2006, renowned singer Smt. Swagatalakshmi Dasgupta paid her homage to the poet by singing and recording all songs composed and tuned by the him (more than 2200). This extra-ordinary effort by Swagatalakshmi, ‘Ekla Geetabitan’ as it is popularly known, is already being adored by the Indian and international audience. This undoubtedly is an invaluable treasure to the music lovers and is specially beneficial to the young Rabindrasangeet aspirants. Notable international scholars like Nobel laureate Prof. Amartya Sen, legend of Laser science Sri Mani Bhowmik and British writer and poet Prof. William Radice poured their praises and blessings upon Swagatalakshmi for her monumental effort.
This year is the 75th death anniversary of Rabindranath. Incidentally ‘Ekla Geetabitan’ is also celebrating its 10th birth anniversary. To make this moment memorable, Swagatalakshmi chose to pay tribute to her beloved poet in her own signature style. There are more than 200 songs in Tagore’s ‘Geetabitan’, which for some reasons the poet could not put tunes in. Swagatalakshmi selected 75 of them and added her own tune in them. Interestingly, for few of the songs, Tagore had mentioned the base Raga on which the lyric should be tuned in. Keeping that in mind, she followed the path the poet has set and created the tunes of her own. In this incredible musical journey, as she realised, it was the poet who accompanied her at every moment and showed her light in the moment of despair, showered his blessings all throughout. She humbly named her offerings ‘Ebong Geetabitan’. Bhavna Records has come forward and extended their helping hand to complete this journey and will be presenting this album in the hands of eagerly awaiting audience.
AshokeRenu is organising a musical evening ‘Geetabitan Ebong Geetabitan’ on 8th August, Monday at Kalamandir auditorium to celebrate the 10th anniversary of ‘Ekla Geetabitan’ and curtain-raiser of the album ‘Ebong Geetabitan’. ‘Ebong Geetabitan’ album will be released.