Dakshinee is one of the music academies in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. It primarily focuses on teaching and promoting the

Rabindrasangeet ''Rabindra Sangeet'' ( bn, রবীন্দ্র সঙ্গীত; ), also known as Tagore Songs, are songs from the Indian subcontinent written and composed by the Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore, winner of the 1913 Nobel Prize in Li ...

History

Suvo Guha Thakurta was a devotee of

. He wanted to spread it among

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

masses which were then confined primarily to

Santiniketan Santiniketan is a neighbourhood of Bolpur town in the Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, approximately 152 km north of Kolkata. It was established by Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, and later expanded by his son ...

. On the advice of Shailaranjan Majumdar, he founded Dakshinee on 8 May 1948.

Early days

Dakshinee started with only 12 students. By 1955 it had 600 students. Between 1962 and 1972 the student strength was over 1500.

Sections

Since inception it has had four functioning sections: *Rabindrasangeet *Nrityakala Kendra (Dance School) *Drama *Cultural *Publication

Activities

*Dakshinee organised Triennial Tagore Music Conference from 1951 - 1960 with the assistance of

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All a ...

. *Dakshinee celebrated the Tagore Centenary in 1961.

Publications

*Rabindrasangeeter Dhara - Suvo Guha Thakurta wrote the book titled "Rabindrasangeeter Dhara" in 1950, about Tagore's compositions. In this book he classified Rabindrasangeet into 17 streams or ‘Parjyay’, as opposed to only 4 streams or 'Parjay' in 'Geetabitan'. This classification helps to understand Rabindrasangeet and the philosophy behind it by analysing the intertwined poetry, the legacy of Hindustani classical music as well as Rabindranath's original creations. This book is part of the academic curriculum of Dakshinee. *Subarno Joyonti Barsha (Shahitya Patra) *Rabindra Janma Satabarshiki *Rajat Joyonti Utsab In 2008, Dakshinee proposed to publish a special edition on the occasion of its Diamond Jubilee Celebrations.

Location

This institute was earlier started at 132,

Rashbehari Avenue Rashbehari Avenue (earlier known as Main Sewer Road or Ballygunge Avenue) is one of the most prestigious and important east–west avenues of Kolkata, India. A major portion of this road is often commonly referred to as Gariahat Road, Gariahat ...

. In 1955, it was moved to Dakshinee Bhawan, 1

Deshapriya Park Deshapriyo Park is a playground of South Kolkata, having Rashbehari Avenue on one side and Sarat Bose Road on another side. Different games like Cricket, Football, Tennis etc. are regularly played here by professional and amateur players and loca ...

(West) where it has remained.

Affiliated institutes

*Nupur in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

(''Currently withdrawn'') *Rabishikha in North London *Dakshinayan in South London *Robiprobash in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

*Kahlar in

Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

(''Currently withdrawn'') *Uttarayan in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

*Srijon in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Notable teachers

Suchitra Mitra Suchitra Mitra (19 September 1924 – 3 January 2011) was an Indian singer, composer, artist exponent of Rabindra Sangeet or the songs of Bengal's poet laureate Rabindranath Tagore, professor, and the first woman Sheriff of Kolkata. As an acad ...

* Subinoy Roy *Sudeb Guha Thakurta *Kamala Basu *Sunil Kumar Roy *Subhas Choudhury *Ashoktaru Bandhapadhay * Rano Guha Thakurta

Prominent students

*Ritu Guha * Rano Guha Thakurta *

Saheb Chatterjee Shaheb Chatterjee ( bn, সাহেব চ্যাটার্জী) is a Bengali people, Bengali Indian male actor and singer of Tollywood Bangla and Bengali television. Shaheb Chatterjee is a Bengali Indian male actor and singer of Toll ...

*Krishna Guha Thakurta *

Srikanta Acharya Srikanta Acharya is a Kolkata-based modern Bengali singer . Acharya is one of the most prominent exponents of Rabindra Sangeet. Early life Srikanta Acharya was born in Kolkata, India and is the son of Rohini Nandan Acharya and Kana Acharya. ...

*Debasish Roy Chowdhury *Prabuddha Raha *Shekhar Gupta *

Shreya Guhathakurta Shreya Guhathakurta (শ্রেয়া গুহঠাকুরতা) (3 February 1975) is an Indian Rabindra Sangeet ''Rabindra Sangeet'' ( bn, রবীন্দ্র সঙ্গীত; ), also known as Tagore Songs, are songs fr ...

* Kamalini Mukherji

Controversies

Although the institute professes to teach

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

's ideals through his music, it has been alleged that Dakshinee believes in instilling a sense of fear among the rank and file of its students, an idea that is contrary to Tagore's own views on any kind of learning. Dakshinee follows its own discrete notation, disregarding the notation accepted and printed by the bishwa-bharati.

References

External links

Dakshinee's official site
{{authority control Music schools in India Bengali music Universities and colleges in Kolkata Educational institutions established in 1948 1948 establishments in West Bengal Rabindranath Tagore