Unesco to celebrate Tagore's 150th birth anniversary

New Delhi: A documentary film that depicts the life and times of Rabindranath Tagore and recital of poems penned by the Nobel Laureate in Hindi and Bengali by the likes of Aparna Sen will be held in Unesco headquarters in Paris on Monday at an event to commemorate his 150th birth anniversary. Remembering Tagore, the cultural programme hosted by India at the Unesco, will also include violin recitation of Tagore’s poems and Bengali rendition by renowned artists from neighbouring Bangladesh.[caption id=“attachment_81156” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“A Rabindranath Tagore memorial in Seoul. Jo Yong-Hak/Reuters”]  [/caption] The programme is a part of the two-day High-Level Sponsoring Committee (HLSC) for the Reconciled Universal for Rabindranath Tagore, Pablo Neruda and Aime Cesaire. India and Bangladesh are engaged in joint celebrations to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Tagore and have been organising a host of events across the globe. The Unesco event will be webcast on their official website on Monday. The event will begin with the screening of the official portrait of one of the celebrated poets of the 21st century directed by Satyajit Ray, an admirer of the man Tagore, his works and vision. The audience will also be treated to a recitation of Tagore’s poetry by Aparna Sen, followed by Hindi rendition of Tagore’s poems by Kavitha Krishnamurthy. Krishnamurthy will perform ‘Surya Taaron se’ (Aakash Bhora), ‘Teri Awaj Pe yadi’ (Jodi Tor Daak Shone), ‘Tum Kya Ho Bas’ (Tum Kee Keboli) and ‘Man Mera Udta Jaaye’ (Mono Mor Meghaero Shongee)- all Hindi renditions of Tagore’s songs. The programme will feature a violin recital of Tagore’s poems by Dr L Subramaniam, who will perform a Ragam, Tanam and Pallavi in Raga Simhendramadhyamam, which is one of the 72 parent scales in South Indian classical music. The silver lining comes when the Bengali rendition of Tagore’s poems will be presented by Shama Rehman from Bangladesh. This year alone, to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, Shama has cut five audio albums of Tagore songs on Prem (love), Prokriti (nature), Puja (Devotional), Swadesh (patriotic) and Bichitra (diverse) and to celebrate the 100 years of the publication of Gitanjali, she has cut four audio albums, under Unesco Reconciled Universal Pogramme. The event will have a performance percussionist by Bickram Ghosh. His programme ia called Tagore Lounge. Tagore Lounge is an unique presentation where Tagore’s mellifluous songs blend with Indian classical ragas and a riveting modern soundscape relying heavily on masterful rhythms created through a blend of traditional acoustic and electronic instruments.