Prabhat Samgiita

Prabhát Saḿgiita (Bengali: প্রভাত সঙ্গীত Probhat Shongit, pɾɔbhat̪ ʃɔŋɡit̪ - see spelling variations below), also known as Songs of a New Dawn and Prabhat Songs, is the collection of songs composed by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar (1921–1990). Sarkar composed a total of 5,018 songs, including lyrics and tune, over a period of eight years from 1982 until his death in 1990.

Etymology

In Bengali, the word Prabhát(a) (প্রভাত - pɾɔbhat̪) means dawn, morning or daybreak. The word Sauṋgiit(a) (সঙ্গীত - ʃɔŋɡit̪) also spelled as Saḿgiit(a) (সংগীত - ʃɔŋɡgit̪) means song and music. Thus, prabhát(a) sauṋgiit(a) or prabhát(a) saḿgiit(a) etymologically means "morning song" or "songs of dawn". It has also been interpreted as "songs of a new dawn".

Name and Variants

Prabhát Saḿgiit has two most commonly used definitions, namely: "Songs of a New Down" and "Songs of Prabhat". It has many spelling variants, with the following reasons: the word saḿgiit has two different spellings in Bengali, there is no fix transliteration rule for most Indian languages, there are also different transcription conventions used in English for Indian languages, the Sanskrit pronunciation has an "a" at the end of both words, which is normally silent in Bengali and Hindi.

Thus we have the word prabhat that can be spelled as:

• Prabhat, Prabhát, Prabhāt, Prabhata, Prabháta, Prabhāta

And we have the word samgiit that can be spelled as:

• Sangit, Sangeet, Sangiit, Samgiit, Saḿgiit, Saṃgīt, Sauṋgiit, Saŋgīt and all of these with "a" at the end:

• Sangita, Sangeeta, Sangiita, Samgiita, Saḿgiita, Saṃgīta, Sauṋgiita and Saŋgīta

If combined, all these variations could create a huge number of spelling variants for Prabhat Samgiit, however not all combinations are used. Subhas Sarkar mainly prefers the variant Prabháta Saḿgiita and sometimes uses Prabhāta saṃgīta. There is no consistency of spelling, even within the same newspapers. The Hindu often spells Prabhat Samgiita however also spells Prabhat Sangit and also Prabhat Sangeet. The Times of India uses both Prabhat Samgiita and Prabhat Sangeet. Most other newspapers spell Prabhat Sangeet, though some articles prefer Prabhat Sangit and Prabhata Samgiita. Publications of Ananda Marga usually goes by the spelling Prabháta Saḿgiita and also often by Prabhát Saḿgiita and Prabhát Saḿgiit. Older publications, however, tend to use the variant Prabhát Sauṋgiit or Prabháta Sauṋgiita. Finally there are instances of unusual spellings as well, such as Prabhat Sangeeth and Prabhat Samhitta.

Composition, Collection, and Releases

P. R. Sarkar composed the first prabhat samgiit Bandhu he niye calo on 14 September 1982 at Deoghar, India. He continued composing songs until his death on 21 October 1990. During that eight years, he composed a total of 5,018 songs, including both lyrics and tune. The last song, Ámrá gaŕe nova gurukul, was composed on 20 October 1990, one day before his death. Renaissance Artists and Writers Association (RAWA), has sponsored many performances and recordings of selected songs. These performances have featured artists such as Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande, Rashid Khan, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Manoj Kumar, Vithal Rao, Shruti Sadolikar, Haimanti Sukla and Archana Udupa.^{[citation needed]}

Sarkar composed songs in eight different languages: Bengali, Hindi, English, Samskrita, Urdu, Magahi, Maithili and Angika. Sarkar held that songs should be performed in their original language to preserve the composer's rhythm, melody, and meaning. Hence, no permission was given by Sarkar for performance of his songs in any language other than the language in which he composed them.^{[citation needed]}

List of songs

Main article: List of songs of Prabhat Samgiita

References

Sources

• Ghista, Garda (30/11/2006), The Gujarat Genocide: A Case Study in Fundamentalist Cleansing, AuthorHouse, p. 174, ISBN 9781425944537  .
• Sarkár, Shrii Prabhát Raiṋjan (1987) Saḿgiita: Song, Dance and Instrumental Music (1st Edition ed.) Kolkata, India: Ananda Marga Publications ISBN 81-7252-250-9 
• Sarkár, Shrii Prabhát Raiṋjan (30/04/2003) Prabhát Sauṋgiit (10th Vol.) (in Bengali) (2nd Edition ed.) Kolkata, India: Ananda Marga Publications pp. xxviii ISBN 81-7252-214-2 
• Sarkár, Shrii Prabhát Raiṋjan (21/10/2007) Prabhát Sauṋgiit (1st Vol.) (in Bengali) (3rd ed.) Kolkata, India: Ananda Marga Publications p. 1 ISBN 81-7252-255-X 
• Sarkár, Subhas (31/12/2010) Prabháta Samgiita: A Literary and Philosophical Appreciation (1st ed.) Ananda Marga Publications ISBN 978-81-7252-260-5 OCLC 704229361 

Online sources

• Afternoon (newspaper) (07/06/2011) "Top cultural icon feted" Afternoon (newspaper) retrieved 5 February 2013 
• Avadhuta, Divyachetananda Acharya (19/06/2009) "Friday Review Delhi - Songs of dawn" The Hindu retrieved 5 February 2013 
• Biswas, Sailendra "Samsad Bengali-English Dictionary" (in Bengali/English) Digital Dictionaries of South Asia retrieved 7 February 2013 
• Jha, Ujjawala (20/11/2011) "Shri Shri Anandamurti: A 20th Century Indian Philosopher" Pune, India: Centre of Advanced Study in Sanskrit, University of Pune p. 2 retrieved 1 February 2013 
• Sarkár, Subhas (12/09/2011) "Songs of a new dawn" The Times of India retrieved 6 February 2013 
• Subramanya, Mysore (17/03/2008), DANCE/MUSIC REVIEW - Prabhat Sangeeth, Deccan Herald, retrieved 1 February 2013  .
• The Hindu (15/09/2009) "Prabhat Samgiita Divas celebrated" The Hindu (New Delhi) retrieved 13 February 2013 
• The Hindu (15/06/2007) "Music and memories" The Hindu retrieved 1 February 2013 
• The Hindu (20/09/2004) "Metro cultural round-up" The Hindu retrieved 1 February 2013 
• The Hindu (27/09/2009) "Divine music that evokes blissful experience" The Times of India retrieved 1 February 2013 
• The Hindu (21/03/2008) "Friday Review Bangalore - Music for humanity" Bangalore, India: The Hindu retrieved 5 February 2013 
• The Statesman (07/10/2011) "Driven by devotion - Meena Banerjee was mesmerised by a few pleasant surprises" The Statesman retrieved 6 February 2013 
• The Telegraph (Calcutta) (20/09/2004) "Homage to spiritual guru" Calcutta, India retrieved 1 February 2013 

External links

• Official website