Man of the series: Nobel laureate Tagore NEW DELHI: India may be on song, but the man with the top score this World Cup, albeit in musical terms, was Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore as the genius behind the national anthems of three countries, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka. It is rare for international sports events to begin and end with players of different nationalities singing anthems written by the same man. But it happened this time around. Apart from the desire to win, Tagore was the factor that linked them all. The literary giant's 'Amar Shonar Bangla' and 'Jana Gana Mana' kicked off World Cup 2011's first match between Bangladesh and India on February 19 in Dhaka. Saturday's finals in Mumbai had India's anthem being played while the Sri Lankan team sang 'Sri Lanka Mathaa', which also has the Tagore stamp. Tagore's association with the anthems of India and Bangladesh are well known. What is less well-known is Gurudev's impact on Sri Lanka's anthem. Inspired by Tagore, his student Ananda Samarakoon wrote and composed the Sri Lankan anthem in 1939-40. It was adopted as the island nation's anthem around 1952, though political turmoil has seen it altered over the years. As a disciple of Tagore at Shantiniketan, Samarakoon's composition is in Rabindra-sangeet style. Some credit Tagore with having composed the music. It was Samarakoon's six-month stint at Tagore's arts college Shantiniketan that inspired him to begin the anthem. The style eventually developed to be the "first traditions of unique Sinhalese music", wrote Sri Lankan news portal Lanka Gazette in celebration Gurudev's 150th birth anniversary this year.
As every Indian knows, Jana Gana Mana was written and set to music by the legendary poet and artist. The first 10 lines of his 1905 poem Amar Shonar Bangla became Bangladesh's anthem in 1972. Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/cricket-world-cup-2011/off-the-field/Man-of-the-series-Nobel-laureate-Tagore/articleshow/7854172.cms _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
