An enlightening evening of music with Dr. Santana Dutta, tracing the evolution of Rabindra Sangeet from its roots in Bengali folk music and Brahmho Sangeet to the present day. What was Santiniketan before it became Santiniketan, before ViswaBharati and Tagore?

The music of Tagore took the music that preceded it and gave it structure, gave it a framework and prescribed ways in which it must be taught and performed. The sheer volume of work makes it monumental. The fact that there is a composition on every topic, makes the music universally appealing. And it is what Tagore desired… that his songs and poetry must be sung and recited in every Bengali household.

When we first planned this event as an exploration of the Bengal School and Santiniketan paintings in our Gallery of Contemporary Indian Art, we had no inkling that there would be so many enthusiastic participants, ready to brave the storm and the traffic to join us on a Saturday evening because of how much they love the music of Bengal.

A big thank you to everyone who came to the Kerala Museum tonight to partake in pure unadulterated music in an intimate setting!

If you’re interested, you can see more of Dr. Santanu’s artworks on his Instagram page, @santanumira is his Instagram handle.