Rabindra Sangeet imputes a space on the listener’s mind. This space is personal. It can be evocative of multiple feelings like love, liking, sadness, romance and sometimes something very deep- something beyond language. On the other hand this structure of feeling can also be evocative of sensations of wonder – like the cases whence it is related with the infinite nature and natural wonders- the rain, the river, the wind. This feeling of wonder is the channel from the personal to the universal. The scenario on the script/canvas of mind is here related to the outside structure of experience that one gathers through the interaction with nature and with other human beings – their levels of experience and feelings, which unconsciously relates the person with them. Hence a particular song might seem very personal for one moment and the very next moment can glide into the space where the personal is dissolved into the universal. Hence the question of performance- how to arrive at that particular/precise blend where the act of singing can capture and express the feeling of experience and the experience of feeling in both personal and universal terms? In such a situation, how to arrive at spontaneity since both spontaneity and artificiality are measured in locational terms –i.e. the person’s experience? Also how to arrive at the space that dissolves the artiste/performer demarcation? The answer to all these lies in one single principle – absolute honesty and sincerity to one’s own feelings- the only way to arrive at perfection. The sun is the stellar creator of the earthly beauty. The sun in itself is a blinding force and beauty and I am happy that I’m staying some eons of miles away from it. But I’m also very happy, in fact more happy about the fact I’m able to bask in the glory of the solar creation. It is the same with Tagore and his songs. The man himself is a dazzling brilliance living eons ahead of us in terms of mental advancement. I don’t want to meet him-even if given the chance to do so – but I’ll bask in the joy living the experience in his songs.
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