French version of a Tagore song
Flowers sway softly, rivers flow gently and cuckoos coo sweetly -- all these rhythmic imageries of nature makes their way to a Tagore song “Phul-e Phul-e Dhol-e Dhol-e”. The popular Bangla song that the Nobel Laureate wrote, inspired by a Scottish tune in the 19th century, deserves a Western version.
Recently, Subir Das along with his musical troupe came up with the idea of making a French version of the song at Fête de la Musique, a worldwide music festival observed every year at Alliance Française on June 21. The troupe did a performance of the song at the music festival observed at the capital's Dhanmondi Branch of Alliance Française. This is the first time anyone has made the French version of any song written and tuned by Rabindranath Tagore.
At the initiative of Subir, a student of Alliance Française, his French language teacher Monsieur Khaja Ahmed translated the song into French so that it could be rendered by Subir and his classmates. They rendered the song before a houseful audience at Alliance Française gallery on June 13. Though every year the Fête de la Musique is observed on June 21, Dhaka observed it in advance due to the approaching Ramadan.
As French is a very lyrical language, the song sounded mellifluous, drawing a big round of applause from the audience. Interestingly, the song was immediately shared by internationally-famed mime maestro Partha Pratim Majumder from his Facebook page. Intrigued by the version, Partha Pratim's son Nicolas Majumder further worked on it. He added a piano track and other necessary arrangements to make the piece more complete.
Talking to this correspondent, Subir said, “It is quite thrilling for us to do what nobody else had done for more than a century. To the best of our knowledge, no French version had been made for any Rabindra Sangeet before this. What impresses me most about a Tagore song is its universality. If a Western child is stunned by the sight of flowers leaning against each other in a gentle breeze, the song is for him. I hope to sing the French version of more Tagore songs in future too.”
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