Sailajaranjan Majumdar (19 July 1900–24 May 1992) was a distinguished exponent and teacher of

Rabindra Sangeet ''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 ...

Early life

The son of Ramanikishore and Saralasundari Majumdar, Sailajaranjan was born at Baham, Netrokona, now in Bangladesh, on 19 July 1900. He passed matriculation from Dutta High School in Netrakona, in 1919, I Sc from Metropolitan College and B Sc from

Scottish Church College Scottish Church College is a college affiliated by Calcutta University, India. It offers selective co-educational undergraduate and postgraduate studies and is the oldest continuously running Christian liberal arts and sciences college in A ...

. Although he had an aptitude for both vocal and instrumental music from childhood he followed his father's wishes. In 1924, he stood first in M Sc chemistry from the University of Calcutta and worked for a short period as a lecturer in

Asutosh College Asutosh College (Bengali: আশুতোষ কলেজ) is a college affiliated to the University of Calcutta, situated in Southern Kolkata, close to the Jatin Das Park Metro Station, gate No. 2. It was established in 1916 as the South Subu ...

. He then acquired a degree in law in 1927 and joined

Netrokona Netrokona ( bn, নেত্রকোনা) is a major town and District headquarter in Netrokona District in the division of Mymensingh. It is the largest town and urban centre of Netrokona District Netrokona ( bn, নেত্রকোণ� ...

bar library for some time. With the efforts of Prabhat Chandra Gupta, professor of economics, he joined

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 ...

in 1932. While working as a lecturer in chemistry, he had an opportunity of learning Rabindranath' s songs from the poet himself as well as from

Dinendranath Tagore Dinendranath Tagore (16 December 1882– 21 July 1935), also known as Dinu Thakur, was a Bengali musician, singer and poet.Samsad Bengali Charitabhidhan (Vol.I) ( Biographical Dictionary) edited by Subodhchandra Sengupta & Anjali Bose, August ...

.Bose, Anjali (editor), 2004, ''Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan'' (Biographical dictionary) Vol 2, , p 337, (set) and (Vol 2).

Later life

He observed Dinendranath preparing musical notations and got interested in the same. In 1935, when Dinendranath left Santiniketan, he started taking the music classes for youngsters as per instruction of the poet. He took lessons in classical music from Hemendralal Roy. In 1939, Rabindranath appointed him principal of

Sangit Bhavana Sangit Bhavana (Institute of Dance, Drama and Music), of Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, started functioning as a part of Kala Bhavana in 1919 and as a separate institution in 1933. It was established by the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tag ...

. He had prepared the notations for about 150 songs of the poet, most of his compositions in later life. In 1960, he resigned from

Visva Bharati University Visva-Bharati () is a public central university and an Institution of National Importance located in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India. It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it ''Visva-Bharati'', which means the communion of the w ...

and permanently settled down in Kolkata. His primary interest in Kolkata was ''Surangama'', a music institution. He was also associated with ''Gitabitan'' and ''Dakshini''. In 1985, Visva Bharati University honoured him with Desikottama.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Majumdar, Sailajaranjan People associated with Santiniketan Bengali musicians Scottish Church College alumni University of Calcutta alumni 1900 births 1992 deaths Musicians from Kolkata