Call
for Papers for JBS Vol.4, No.1 on the theme of Bengali Music: Bengalis
and Music
After the proud publications of
our issues on Ognijug, the age of revolutionary nationalism in Bengal
(Vol.1, No.1), Bengali Cinema: Bengalis and Cinema (Vol.1, No.2),
Bengali Theatre: Bengalis and Theatre (Vol.2, No.1), Science and
Technology in History: Modern Bengali Perspectives (Vol.2, No.2),
Literature and Movements: Bengali Crossroads
(Vol.3, No.1), Kolkata
(Vol.3, No.2), Journal
of Bengali Studies (JBS),
a peer reviewed interdisciplinary online academic journal (ISSN:
2277- 9426) meant for
scholarly discussions into the history and culture of the Indic
Bengali people, is pleased to announce the Call
for Papers for its
seventh
issue (Vol.4, No.1) on the theme of Bengali
Music: Bengalis and Music,
due to be published on the occasion of Noboborsho, Bengali New Year,
15 April 2015. The final date for submission of
article/review/workshop is 15 March 2015. Commentaries in JBS are
accepted by invitation/commission alone. If you want to author a
commentary instead of a regular article or review, or want to know
how they are different, please get in touch with the editorial board
beforehand at shoptodina@gmail.com
Bengali Music: Bengalis and
Music
The theme of JBS Vol.4 No.1 is
Bengali Music: Bengalis and Music.
Indian civilisation records it
penchant for music which goes back to the earliest Vedic times.
Bengalis of antiquity as well as
of modernity have been known for their excellence in music. Classical
Sanskrit aesthetics (Bharata's Natyashastra for example) corroborate
the existence of distinct eastern/Gaudiya styles and schools of music
and dance. In Caryapada (chorjapod),
there is a famous mention of a performance of “Buddha play”
(Buddha nataka) with
the accompaniment of songs and dance. The following informations are
provided by Nirharranjan Ray in his Bangalir Itihash Adiporbo (637
-643).
The Chorjas
were supposed to be sung as each of them was assigned a specific
raag. We find Goudiya
and Bongaal raag among
others in the the list of the raags.
Gitgobindo of
Joydeb was sung with eleven different raags
and five taal.
Lochon
Pandit's Raagtarangini is
an ancient treatise on music from Bengal. Lochon was a contemporary
of King Bollal Sen. Lochon mentions a still earlier (but lost)
treatise on Bengali music called Tumburu
nataka from which he
quotes at length; it seems that the Shakto performative tradition
which later flourished as Agomoni songs
had its origin in the specific
form of song and dance called Tumburu.
Further,
We find twenty eight raags
and seven taals
in Bodu Chondidas's
Shrikrishnokirton.
During the middle ages, the rise
of Gouriyo Boishnob movement made exhaustive use of music in order to
propagate the message of Gour and Nitai. Choitonyo himself is reputed
to have authored Jagannatha Ashtakam, a beautiful song in Sanskrit in
praise of Lord Jagannath.
Almost every other household in
Bengal to this day has a custom of music learning.
The topics for contribution will
include the following but will not be limited to the same:
Instrumental music across the
ages. Durga puja and dhaak, Baul and ektara/dotara.
Folk Music. Bankim's reminiscence
of a bhatiyali song on the
Ganges in a moonlit night (in his biography of Ishwar Gupta)
testifies about the core appeal of Bengali folk music for Bengali
psyche. Baul music. Tusu, Bhadu, Jhumur, Bhawaiya, Gombhira,
Brotogan.
Songs
in folk performing arts. Jatra: Palagan.
Kothokota/narrative
songs by Kothok Thakurs/Bengali rhapsodes .
Classical music. The survival of
Bishnupuri Gharana.
Religious
music. Boishnob kirton
and Shakto devotional songs. Songs of Kali (Shyamashongeet) and Songs
of Radha and Krishna.
Occasional songs: Shiber Gajon.
Raash and Jhulon songs. Agomoni songs on the eve of Durgapujo.
The emergence of Kobigaan.
Toppa, Aakhrai, Half-Aakhrai,
Panchali.
Rise of Nationalism and Bengali
patriotic songs. Before Bankim's Vande Mataram and after.
The rise of writer-composers of
late Victorian and modern period. Tagore, DL Roy, Nazrul.
The advent of Film music.
Raichand Boral, Krishnachandra Dey, S D Burman, Hemanta, Shyamal
Mitra. Singer actors. K L Saigal, Kanan Debi.
The golden age: Bengali film
music of the Uttam-Suchitra era.
The ebb of film music in the
1990s. The rebirth of Bengali film music in the second half of 2000s.
Contemporary Bengali film music.
Lyric of film music.
The musical diaspora. Bengali
musicians, singers, composers, lyricists in Bollywood and abroad. R D
Burman, Kishore Kumar and others.
Theatre and music. Songs of
Bengali professional stage. Rise of IPTA and gonoshongeet
(people's songs,
communism-inspired). Songs in Bengali group theatre to this day.
Bengali
Adhunik songs.
First Experiments with western
band form. Mohiner Ghoraguli.
The rise and fall of (Kabir)
Suman. Nachiketa, Anjan Dutt, Shilajit and other three-in-one
(lyricist-singer-composer) performers of the 1990s. The last bow of
left liberal sensibility in their works.
The postmodern shift and the
contemporary scenario. The rise of Bangla Band and their distinct
forms of lyric and music. Anindya, Chandril and Chandrabindu; Rupam
Islam and Fossils; Sidhu and Cactus. Other bands.
Dissemination of music. Music
commerce. Bengali music from the days of gramophone to the days of
mp3. Technologies of music and studio system. Sound engineering.
Bengali music and politics. The
case of George Biswas: Bratyojoner Ruddhoshongeet.
Bengali music in the digital age.
General details about
submissions to Journal of Bengali Studies:
Journal of Bengali Studies is
published in English and is an online journal. A contribution must be
electronic and in English language. It should consistently follow any
one of these three scholarly styles of citation: MLA style, Chicago
Manual of Style and APA style. Contributions must always be 1.5
line-spaced. An article, with notes and bibliography, should not be
more than 10000 words. In case of reviews, the upper limit is 2000
words; we welcome reviews of new books as well as old and out of
print ones, not necessarily of books written in English alone; we
accept reviews of books, texts and artworks (new and old alike) which
are related to our theme. From our Cinema issue onwards, we started a
section (in addition to articles and reviews) called Workshop: Theory
in Practice. This section features creative/critical fieldnotes which
are related to our theme. Any kind of creative/literary writing that
concerns Bengali music is welcome in this issue; a priority may be
given to historical fictions/plays/poetry concerning key musical
maestros of Bengal, which may be originally written in Bengali, in
which case it has to be in English translation, or it may be
originally written in English. In either case, it should focus on our
theme and be relevant to the CFP. The workshop may also include
critical writings, for example, the narration of one's experiences
with Bengali music, exploring the question of one's involvement with
the social, cultural, literary, economic and political aspects of
Bengali music. Upper Limit of Creative Workshop: 10000 words. We have
no lower word limit for the contributions, the authors are free to
use their discretion. Contributions should only be in MS Word, Open
Office, or RTF format and should be emailed to all
of these three email
ids: editorbengalistudies@gmail.com, editjbs@gmail.com and
shoptodina@gmail.com. Before submission, please see our Submission
Guidelines and Terms
and Conditions at
http://bengalistudies.blogspot.in/.
For further details about the objectives of our journal, please see
the JBS Manifesto at http://bengalistudies.blogspot.in/.
Editor-in-Chief: Tamal Dasgupta
Editorial Board: Sourav Gupta
Mousumi Biswas Dasgupta
Joydeep Bhattacharya
