Safeguarding Nazrul Sangeet from distortion

Kazi Nazrul Islam's poetry is steeped in the triumph of humanity, while his music soothes the senses with its embrace of eternal love. Eminent Nazrul exponent, researcher and chairman of the Nazrul Institute Trustee Board, Professor Emeritus Rafiqul Islam, talks about Nazrul Sangeet and the timely initiatives of Nazrul Institute to aptly document the musical legacy of our National Poet. Excerpts:

“Nazrul had innate poetic abilities. We would like to convey the message of humanity and dignity that Nazrul reverberated in his poetry to the world. We find the relevance of Nazrul's poetry in the present world brimming with violence, fundamentalism and bigotry.”

“Bangla Academy has published Nazrul Rachonabali while Nazrul Institute has brought out Nazrul's literary creation separately. We have emphasised the preservation of Nazrul's songs with precise melody. For that, we have suggested singers to follow the original gramophone records. Marking the 40th death anniversary of our National Poet, we are launching a compilation of CD containing 500 original gramophone records. We hope to release another 500 original songs by December this year. Our plan is to complete at least 1500 songs in CDs prior to the next birth anniversary of Kazi Nazrul Islam.”

“I firmly believe once we complete the task, the confusion and distortion of melody in Nazrul Sangeet will be eliminated. This is our prime concern. We are going to publish tomorrow (August 27) a compilation of 500 songs in a noise free CD under the title “Nazrul Sangeet: Adi Sur”. The featured singers are those who first recorded the songs maintaining original tunes of Nazrul Sangeet.”

“The songs will be treated as the basics of Nazrul Sangeet. Based on the original tunes, we have also selected another hundred songs that have been recorded by the artistes of our time. Our purpose is to safeguard Nazrul Sangeet from getting distorted. Much distortion and misrepresentation of Nazrul Sangeet has so far happened over the years. Our struggle is to bring back the magnanimity, lost pride and the musical legacy of Kazi Nazrul Islam.”

“The singers are free to sing; but you have to maintain the original tunes. Though the rendition style changes with the passage of time, one can arrange music incorporating modern instruments; but one must record and sing following the original tunes.”