Salma Akbar in love with Tagore melodies

Eminent Tagore artiste Salma Akbar has always been awed by the melody and lyrics of Tagore songs.  The haunting beauty of the tunes made her believe that she too was born to sing. Trained in music at Chhayanaut and Sangeet Bhaban, she also received music lessons from Tagore exponents like Sanjida Khatun, Waheedul Haque, Abdul Ahad, Kalim Sharafi, Kanika Bandopadhyay and Nilima Sen.  As joint secretary of Bangladesh Rabindra Sangeet Shilpi Sangstha (BRSSS) Salma is an exponent of Tagore songs. Here she gives many insights into her favourite subject:

Tagore, she said, wrote 115 songs on Barsha, his favourite season. He incorporated various flavours such as love, nature, nostalgia and spirituality in his songs. While talking about the bard's monsoon melodies Salma added, “the best part of Barsha songs is that a listener can relate to the lyrics and melodies. This is when you feel these songs are only written for you.”

 Tagore songs are distributed across five genres-- Pooja, Prakriti, Prem, Bichitro and Swadesh. While talking about her favourite genre, Salma expressed her love for Pooja and Prokriti -based songs. “My favourite song is the patriotic 'O amar desher mati'”.

Salma is hopeful that the future will see more culturally aware and patriotic Bengalees. “It is absolutely fine to be inclined towards modern art and culture, but the combination would be outstanding if we are well acquainted with our history and culture also,” she concluded.