Translating Tagore

Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s song Aji momo mono cahe jibono bondhure wafts through the studio where 41-year-old Pakistani pop star Najam Sheraz is working. But listen closely,and one can notice that the famous Bengali lyrics have been replaced by Urdu words — Hai ye dil bekaraar usake liye,dost thehra jo zindagi bhar ka (Today my heart pines for my long lost friend). Even as India celebrates Tagore’s 150th birth centenary,with a slew of exhibitions,concerts,speeches and seminars,Sheraz is hard at work in Karachi,singing eight prominent songs of Tagore in Urdu for an album. And he is pleased with how Aji momo mono cahe is turning out.

“I find the Urdu translation of this song very sensitive. I rarely write romantic songs but I almost cried while reading the translation. I have been unfortunate not to have known Tagore’s work all these years,” says the pop star in an e-mail from Pakistan. Sheraz has been roped in by Rathikant Basu,Chairperson of South Asian TV,to work on a Rabindrasangeet album in Urdu,the first such endeavour by a Pakistani musician. He will also perform songs from this album on a concert tour that begins next month. While the translations have been done by Delhi-based lyricist Indira Verma and Delhi-based Urdu poet Dr Rehman Musawwir,the music has been arranged by Kolkata-based film composer Debajyoti Mishra.

Sheraz performs extensively in Bangladesh and India,especially Kolkata,and has a steady following among Bollywood fans,due his work in Vikram Bhatt films. His tantalising number,Bheege hont tere,from the Mallika Sherawat-starrer Murder was also a huge hit. But singing Rabindrasangeet in Urdu has Sheraz particularly excited. “I am working hard to pay tribute to Tagore,a man who enriched the culture of India as a nation,” he says.

Even as he tries to get the lyrics and emotions right for the songs,Sheraz is poring over books on Tagore. “I am currently studying the life of Tagore so that I can develop a better connection with the audience. He was an institution in himself,” says Sheraz,who will also have Shubha Mudgal singing a couple of tracks on the album,which will release at the end of May.

Tagore’s musical compositions have haunted both traditionalists and new-generation musicians,and many experts are against experiments with this distinctive genre. Purists frown upon jazzed-up interpretations,dismissing these as ‘distortions’. So is Sheraz stirring up the hornet’s nest by singing these songs in Urdu? “Bengal believes in love,peace and emotions. It’s a bit early to say how people are going to take the Urdu version of Tagore songs. All I can say is that I have been dedicated wholeheartedly to the project,” says Sheraz.