Celebrating 158 years of Rabindranath Tagore

 “Where the mind is without fear and the head held high

Where knowledge is free

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments

By narrow domestic walls” – Rabindranath Tagore

Tagore spoke of prayer, love, patriotism and passion. He also spoke about freedom to learn, to express and to stand up for one’s own beliefs. On the occasion of his 158th birthday, we caught up with the leading Tagore artiste Rezwana Choudhury Bannya, who spoke about learning, academics and her plans for today.

What are the celebrations that take place during Rabindra Jayanti in Bangladesh and what are your plans for the day?

There are celebrations every year organised by the government, where I along with many others participate, of course. The national celebrations will take place today at Shilpakala Academy right before the evening. However, this year, I will also be doing a few TV recordings, one for Channel i and a live show on BanglaVision tonight. I usually don’t do late night shows – because my voice gets hoarse. But I thought of giving this one a chance.

Not only have you been singing and performing for decades, but you are also very inclined towards academia. As the head of the Dance department at Dhaka University, what role do you play to encourage young artistes?

Frankly speaking, most of the young students we teach are more inclined towards a steady job rather than going for a performance based career, and there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, we too encourage them to do so and the academic curriculum is also structured in a respective manner.

Your school Shurer Dhara has gone through many changes in the last few years. Could you shed some light on them?

Our school is finally under the National University board curriculum. For the last few years, we have been offering a postgraduate degree in Music. I think that the academic affiliation is very much necessary, especially if students want to study music seriously.

You also have a special Rabindra Sangeet course under Shurer Dhara that you teach. Could you tell us a little about that?

The special course is for those who had learnt music at some point in their lives but were unable to continue for various reasons, as well as for professionals. Since I am out of the country for work most of the time, the timing is flexible, otherwise, the classes are held every Tuesday. A total of 40 classes are held in a year.

What would be your advice for the young ones who would like to have a career in music or the arts?

If you want to have a career, you try and you try, until you are satisfied. There is no short cut to having a successful career in music, dance, or any other form of show business whatsoever. You need luck and the blessing from the Almighty to become a star, since that is what many of the young ones seek. As an artiste, you need to have passion and let that passion drive you towards your goal.