282:'s lyrics. His early gramophone recordings of Tagore songs brought out in the early 1940s demonstrate soulful full-throated expression of melody with a strict adherence to the rules and norms of tradition, written and unwritten, which he felt obliged to break in the early 1960s – considered by most to be his heyday up to the year 1969. His renderings in this period show amazing power of voice and modulation, compounded with an overt emotional expression of a kind hitherto unpractised by his contemporaries and even himself. His voice at this period ranged at ease within the three octaves and with varied tempos and rhythms and showed a greater variety of emotional expression from the thunderous and rumbling to the soft and mellow. Somewhat audacious and overpowering in his personal feelings and mores, his enunciation of the words of even the most familiar of Tagore's lyrics extracted new meanings and freshness from the compositions. Some of his renditions that go deep into the heart of Bengalis include Akash bhora surjo tara, Purano sei diner kotha, E monihar amay nahi saje, Klanti amar khoma koro probhu, Je ratey mor duarguli, Tomar kache e bor magi, Chokher joler laglo joar, Swapne amar mone holo, among others.
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purity of Tagore compositions. Although initially he did brace himself to meet the challenge, he retreated later and on his own volition stopped all record production. As further controversy fuelled, his public live performances continued with an ever- increasing demand but with age (now he was 60) and a declining voice and his lifelong asthma affliction, he withdrew from public appearance, venting his anguish and frustrations in his autobiographical reflections:
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Shankar
Chakraborti and Jati Shankar Chakraborti among the four children, were particularly close their uncle, with whom they received musical training. Kumar Shankar succumbed to a heart condition at a very young age. Jati Shankar was known to have a very similar vocal quality as Debabrata Biswas. He did not pursue music professionally but as a rather as a passion project.
320:, traditional tempo, beat and rhythms which were commonly associated with Tagore lyrics, as well as with his use of Western musical instruments for the purposes of accompaniment and interlude – an practice that remained with him till his death. He challenged the sensibilities of Tagore song listeners with the use of the Spanish guitar, the saxophone, the
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His legacy: Debabrata Biswas's younger sister, Lalita Biswas was an accomplished singer with very similar vocal qualities and a strong theatrical personality with IPTA. The family is known to be reformers and have contributed to the upliftment of the societal challenges at the time. Her sons, Kumar
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was formed, he was in a confused state. However, he remained in touch with the communist party till his death. In one of his memoirs he has said: "When the party got divided into two sections, I was confused, because I was attached to the members of both, Communist Party of India or CPI, as well as
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In the later part of the 1960s, Biswas was seriously challenged by the authorities over his audacious style and quite a number of his records were prohibited from commercial production for reasons attributed to wrong spirit, wrong tempo and other melodic excesses not regarded as harmonious to the
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the newly formed
Communist Party of India (Marxist). So, I decided to remain away from active politics. However, I must confess that I have been lucky to get the true love of all the members of both the wings of the communist party all through my life."
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even to the point of self-mockery, buffoonery and feigned frivolity, he was fond of sketching and often gave drawings along with autographs. One such signature features himself praying to Tagore and another showing Tagore hitting a sixer with a
392:(IPTA), as a cultural delegate of which he visited China twice in the early 1950s with other great cultural luminaries from India. He recorded his experiences with China in a well-written but somewhat simplistic and naive book titled
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Biswas was the only singer who sang
Rabindra Sangeet in Sanskrit, English, German, French, and Russian. He received training in foreign language at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Kolkata.
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took help of Biswas for song selection & playback of Tagore songs. Those Tagore songs used in the movies became extremely popular among the masses. Debabrata Biswas was actively engaged with
422:, a model of orthodoxy when orthodox, and an icon of protest against the establishment, organized media and cultural dictatorship when breaking away from the orthodox.
412:. Immensely popular as he was, he had shunned the press and the media all his life, not even allowing his own photographs or career history on blurbs or record covers.
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Please remove or replace such wording and instead of making proclamations about a subject's importance, use facts and attribution to demonstrate that importance.
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or
Peoples' Songs in party gatherings, meetings and plenary sessions up to the mid-1950s. He remains one of the towering personalities of the peak era of
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He lent his voice to a number of films and after his death was the subject of a documentary film by his name, based on archival footage and interviews.
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till the mid-1950s. However, he was hurt at the fact that a conflict had arisen among the core groups of the
Communist Party itself. Hence, when
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Debabrata Biswas lived a simple, modest and spartan life at a rented flat in South
Calcutta, receiving a post-graduate degree in economics from
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Biswas' music was notable for its exceptional depth of emotional expression combined with an exploration of the subtle dramatic element in
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himself was the trainer when
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group for a long period. He sang a few songs set to music by
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To this day, he remains a popular exponent of the art of
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around the time of Biswas' birth, so he was nicknamed
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221:George-
195:Website
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330:sarod
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