Sagar Sen (15 May 1932 – 4 January 1983) was a
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 ...
singer. Though primarily known as an exemplary
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 ...
artiste, he had recorded numerous
Bengali modern songs and directed a few as well.
Career
Born 15 May 1932 in a ''zamindar'' family of Rajbari, Faridpur district in erstwhile East Bengal, Sagar Sen was the youngest son of Bijon Behari Sen and Noyonmanjari Sen. Though his early childhood was spent in what is now Bangladesh, his entire musical career spanning more than 2½ decades mostly based out of Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
In his early days, Sagar Sen showed remarkable range and depth, a prodigious ability to convey complex emotions as a singer, impressing audiences through his local performances and building up a strong following. His songs were first broadcast on All India Radio (AIR)
Akashvani,
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 ...
in 1958. Frequent live AIR broadcasts of his renditions through the following decades became the listening staple of his ardent fans and followers. The legend cut his first album in 1961 under the Megaphone Records label with record topping songs ''Nupuro Bejey Jaye'' and ''Ogo Joler Rani''.
In 1962, the legend founded the ''Rabi Rashmi'', a Tagorean music academy. The project registered student enrolment in the thousands and garnered a manifold increase in the number of his ardent followers. His singles ''Apnake Ei Jana Amar'' and ''Keno Aamaye Pagol Kore Jaas'' under the Columbia record label were released in 1964 followed by the release of the songs ''Oei Malatilata Doley'' and ''Aamaar Nayano Tabo Nayaner'' under the same label. He participated in the recordings of Tagore's operas namely, Shap Mochan (1966) and
Valmiki Pratibha
''Vālmīki-Praṭibhā'' ( bn, বাল্মীকি-প্রতিভা, ''Balmiki Protibha'', lit. ''The Genius of Vālmīki'') is an opera by Rabindranath Tagore. The Bengali libretto was written by Tagore himself based on the legend of ...
(1967).
1968, the defining year of Sagar Sen’s musical journey, saw the release of his cult single ''Ami Jene Shune Bish Korechhi Paan'', a song from Tagore’s first operatic ballad ''Mayar Khela'', under the EMI record label. ''Jene Shune Bish'' instantaneously transported Sagar Sen to luminous heights; his dizzying fame transformed ''Rabi Rashmi'' to a living institution; the most coveted by students of Tagorean music and adored by music lovers & aficionados. A legend was born.
His first stereophonic
Long Play (LP) record comprising 12 Tagore songs, 6 each from 'Puja' (Devotional) and 'Prem' (Love) category was released in the year 1974 under the EMI-HMV record label. Through the decades, the legend’s innumerable ''Rabindrasangeet'' renditions that were regularly broadcast live by the AIR and
Akashvani, now find place in their archival collections. His solo recitals were beamed live during the inaugural broadcasts of the
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 ...
Doordarshan in August 1975, the first live television broadcast in Bengali; he featured in several subsequent broadcasts of the Doordarshan. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s he recorded numerous songs with the erstwhile
Gramophone Company of India Ltd.
In 1979, the BFJA, a premier cinematic award was conferred upon him for best playback singing of the Tagore song ''Aaj Jyotsnaratey Shobai Gechhey Boney'' in the film ''Parichay;'' it was the first time that anyone had won a Bengal film award by singing ''Rabindrasangeet'' in a film playback track.
Sagar Sen’s unique understanding & spiritual insight of Tagore's songs has been invariably watermarked in each of his enigmatic renditions. His mellifluous dulcet renditions harmonising with his attention to infinitesimal Tagorean nuances breathed life into the songs he rendered. His golden baritone voice and his near perfect emotional delivery brought out the best that Tagore music had to offer to the listener; and yet he fastidiously stuck to the rigid notations set by Tagore, not once digressing from them in any of his magical renditions. Sagar Sen was the consummate minstrel who satisfied the puritans and yet popularised Tagorean music and brought it to the masses.
Sagar Sen has left behind a rich, musical legacy of contemporary ''Rabindrasangeet'' renditions through his hundred plus soundtracks recorded with the Megaphone, Columbia, EMI-HMV in several chartbusting albums traversing two and half decades. Apart from staging & conducting innumerable musical theatricals rendering various Tagorean operatic ballads, he has been an exemplary torchbearer in popularising Tagorean music not only through his singular contribution as a virtuoso artiste par excellence, but also through regular concerts & performances of various Tagorean thematic stage shows conceptualized, presented & conducted by him. Sagar Sen had pioneered the model of conceptualizing thematic stage shows & concerts, based solely on Tagorean music. Among his popular stage shows & concerts were ''Shrabon Sandhya'' (Monsoon Evening), ''Bishwajana Mohichhey'' (World Spellbound in Music), ''Gaaner Jharnatalaye'' (Under the Cascade of Songs), ''Swadeshi Naye Bideshi Kheya'' (Tagore songs from Western Tunes), ''Rituranga'' (Season’s Varieties); ''Shraban Sandhya'' was the most acclaimed. Through these thematic stage-show concerts organised at prestigious venues 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 ...
like
Rabindra Sadan
Rabindra Sadan is a cultural centre and theatre in Kolkata, located close to the St. Paul's Cathedral on Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road in South Kolkata.
It is noted for its large stage which is a prime venue for Bengali theatre and Kol ...
,
Sisir Mancha
Sisir Mancha is an auditorium located on Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. This auditorium is regularly used for Bengali theatres. The auditorium is adjacent to Rabindra Sadan- Nandan Complex. The theatre auditor ...
and Kala Mandir, Sagar Sen provided a huge platform and reach for contemporary Tagorean artistes and danseuse to promote and showcase their talents. All his students from ''Rabi Rashmi'' performed choral songs whilst his contemporaries like the legendary
Hemanta Mukhopadhyay
Hemanta Mukhopadhyay (16 June 1920 – 26 September 1989), known professionally as Hemant Kumar and Hemanta Mukherjee, was a legendary Indian music composer and playback singer who primarily sang in Bengali and Hindi, as well as other Indian ...
,
Debabrata Biswas,
Suchitra Mitra, Kanika Bandyopadhyay and many others performed solos in these concerts. Sagar Sen was a dynamic stage organiser and musical visionary far ahead of his times.
Although the legend of Sagar Sen revolves around his being an archetypal ''Rabindrasangeet'' singer, he was also an exemplary music mentor, organiser, music director, and a humanist. Through his countless charitable public performances Sagar Sen tirelessly contributed to social causes, especially to the West Bengal Chief Minister’s relief fund that was instituted to provide relief to the millions affected by the havoc of floods in Bengal during the decade of 70s. He was a larger-than-life humanitarian persona providing succour to many of his students and admirers; he was their mentor, their altruistic peer figure, their ''Sagarda.''
In the mature years of his musical career, Sagar Sen started recording numerous Bengali modern songs, notably under the music directions of maestro composers Hemanta Mukherjee & Salil Chowdhury. The AIR archives have recordings of a number of Bengali modern songs sung by him. He performed as a playback artist notably in
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 ...
movies ''Je Jekhane Dariye'' (1974), ''Mantramugdha'' and ''Abirbhab'' (1979) amongst others. Sagar Sen music directed the Bengali movie ''Abirbhab;'' not known to many, Hemanta Mukherjee & Bhupen Hazarika have sung under his music direction''.'' His renditions ''Ei Jibon Emni Kore Ar To Soy Na'' and ''Ki Holo Chand Keno Meghe Dheke Gelo,'' modern Bengali song tracks composed by Salil Chowdhury and recorded in 1980, were runaway hits.
Style
His style of rendition appealed to every dedicated listener of the genre for its perfect blend of emotional delivery (which is a unique attribute of
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 ...
) and technical perfection which succeeded in manifesting the subliminal nature of
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 ...
melodies. Sagar Sen's incredibly unique understanding & spiritual insight of Tagore's songs has been invariably watermarked in each of his enigmatic renditions and his lingering, silken, magical renditions of Tagorean love songs highlights his genius through the mellow romantic intonations that unfailingly embellished the songs he sang. His uniqueness lay in the fact that he gave extreme importance to the minutest details of the notations and yet his renditions exhibited the best of freestyle singing. The legendary melodist ever and always watermarked his unique song style signature into the melodies of the songs he chose to interpret. His unique attributes like his melodious
baritone voice, attention to the minute details and the most appropriate emotional delivery and style required for the rendition of songs composed by
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 ...
appealed to the masses on a large scale and yet kindled the connoisseur listener as well. His soulful midasque rendition transformed Tagorean songs into a golden melodic tapestry.
Modern songs and playback
Sagar Sen performed as a
playback artiste notably in the
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 ...
movies ''Je Jekhane Dnariye'' (1974), and ''Parichay'' (1979) and ''Mantramugdha'', amongst others. He also music directed movies like ''Abirbhab''. in which he was also one of the playback artiste. He received a
BFJA Award Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards commonly referred as BFJA Awards, is given by The Bengal Film Journalists' Association. The BFJA is the oldest association of film critics in India, founded in 1937 to serve the developing film journalism ...
in 1979 for the song 'Aj Jyotsnaratey Sobai Gechhe Boney' in the movie Parichay. He also sang
modern Bengali songs like 'Ei Jibon Emni Kore Ar To Soy Na' and 'Ki Holo Chand Keno Meghe Dheke Gelo' in 1980 and a duet with Sabita Chowdhury 'Trishito Nayane Eso' all composed by the maestro composer,
Salil Chowdhury
Salil Chowdhury (19 November 1925 – 5 September 1995) was an Indian music director, songwriter, lyricist, writer and poet who predominantly composed for Bengali, Hindi and Malayalam films. He composed music for films in 13 languages. This in ...
.
Personal life and death
In 1962, he married Sumita Sen. Pritam, his first son was born in 1964. His second son Priyam was born in 1966 and his youngest son Promit was born in 1967.
In 1981, he was diagnosed with
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
. Despite this diagnosis, he continued recording and performing in concerts in with full zest and vigour throughout the last one and a half years of his life. He died on 4 January 1983, at the age of 50.
He was survived by his wife and three sons, Pritam Sen, Priyam Sen and Promit Sen.
Promit Sen is a
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 ...
artiste in his own right and continues to perform in the present era.
References
External links
* http://www.sagarsen.org
itunes.apple.com*
new.music.yahoo.chcidhaka.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sen, Sagar
1932 births
1983 deaths
Rabindra Sangeet exponents
Rabindranath Tagore
Bengali singers
Bengali Hindus
20th-century Indian singers
Singers from Kolkata