Rabindra Sangeet Questions and Answers

Answer: C

The official key says that the Rabindra Sangeet 'Amar Sakal Dukher Pradeep' is based on the mixed raga Bhimpalashri-Multani, as in option (C). A mishra, or mixed, raga combines the swaras of two ragas.

Maru-Kedara, Pilu-Barowa and Yaman-Purbi are also names of mixed ragas, but the key does not connect them with this song. Bhimpalasi and Multani are the two ragas that this song is blended from.

Rabindra Sangeet makes much use of mixed ragas, in which the character of two ragas is combined, so questions on the raga basis of a song ask for the pair, as with Bhimpalashri-Multani here.

Answer: C

The song 'Ore Grihabasi, Khol Dwar Khol' was written and composed for Holi, the spring festival of colour (Dol). Its words speak of the Dol that has come, as the key's answer (C) says.

It is not a house-warming song, so (A) is wrong, and it does not mark Hemant, the late autumn season, so (B) is wrong. It is a song of the festival, not a birthday song, so (D) is wrong.

The song belongs to the spring group in the Prakriti part of the Gitabitan, and the line 'laglo je dol' refers to the Dol festival, which is why the answer is Holi and not a household occasion.

Answer: D

The teacher of the Rabindra Sangeet artists Kanika Bandopadhya and Subinoy Roy was Shailajaranjan Majumder, a pupil of the Tagore tradition who taught many leading singers. The answer is (D).

Rabindranath and Dinendranath belonged to an earlier generation and were the source of the songs, not the teacher of these two artists. Sahana Debi was also a singer, but the key names Shailajaranjan Majumder.

Shailajaranjan Majumder (1900 to 1992) was a teacher at Santiniketan who learned from Dinendranath Tagore and taught generations of Rabindra Sangeet singers, which is why he is named as the teacher in the key.

Answer: A

The tala used both in Indian classical music and in Rabindra Sangeet under the same name is Khemta, the six-beat tala. The answer is (A).

Kriti is a Karnatik composition form. Chaturang is a musical form of Hindustani music, not a Rabindra tala. Saadara, or Sadra, is a Hindustani tala of ten matras that appears in classical music, while Rabindra Sangeet has talas of its own with other names.

Khemta has six matras in the Hindustani repertory, and Rabindranath used the same tala by the same name, with the divisions 3 and 3, which is why it is a tala common to both systems.

Answer: C

The correct code is a-iv, b-iii, c-i, d-ii, option (C). The key matches 'Oei Asanatoler Matir Pare' with Kirtan, 'Ore Agun Amar bhai' with Baul, 'Tumi Kichho Diye Jao' with Thumri and 'Aaj Dhaner Khete Raudra Chhayay' with Sari Gaan.

Option (A) gives the first song to Sari Gaan, option (B) to Kirtan but the last to Thumri, and option (D) gives the first song to Thumri, so each has a pair that differs from the key.

Answer: C

The song based on the 'Nabatal' is 'Prabhate Bimalo Anande', option (B) in the key. Nabatal is a tala of nine matras that Rabindranath introduced into his music.

The other songs, 'Swami Tumi Eso Aaj', 'Nibira Ghano Andhare Jalichhe Druvatara' and 'Gabhir Rajani Namilo Hridaye', are set to other talas, so they are not the Nabatal song.

Rabindranath's Nabatal has nine matras, divided 2, 2, 2, 3, and he used it in some songs of the Puja and Prakriti groups, so identifying the song means knowing its tala.

Answer: B

The tala with eight matras is Rupakda (Rupakra), which has a 3, 2, 3 division. The key gives (B).

Jhampak has five matras, Teora seven and Khemta six, so none of them has eight.

Rupakda is one of the talas Rabindranath devised, with eight matras in the divisions 3, 2 and 3, and it is used for several of his songs, which makes it the only one of the four with eight matras.

Answer: B

The book 'Pitri-Smriti' was written by Rathindranath Tagore, the son of Rabindranath, who wrote about his father. The key gives (B).

Rabindranath was the subject, not the writer, Abanindranath was the painter who was his nephew, and Dinendranath was his grand-nephew, the keeper of his songs. None of them wrote this book.

Pitri-Smriti ('Memories of the Father') is the book in which Rathindranath, Rabindranath's eldest son, wrote of his father's life, and the name of the writer is the answer.

Answer: B

The odd one is Jhampak. Jhaptal, Sultal and Sur Fhanktal each have ten matras, while Jhampak has five. The key gives (B).

Since three of the options are ten-matra talas, the one that does not belong is Jhampak.

To find the odd one in a list of talas, count the matras: Jhaptal, Sultal and Sur Fhanktal each have ten, while Jhampak has five, and the one with a different count is the odd one.

Answer: C

Tagore's Sur Fhanktal has three divisions (bibhags), the key answer (C). It is a tala of ten matras arranged as 2, 4, 4.

Four and five divisions would apply to other talas such as Ekadashi, and two divisions would be a shorter tala. The key accepts three.

Sur Fhanktal, an invention of Rabindranath, has ten matras in the divisions 2, 4 and 4, and its three divisions distinguish it from talas such as Jhaptal, which has four.