Debabrata Biswas
| Debabrata Biswas | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Native name | দেবব্রত বিশ্বাস |
| Born |
22 August 1911 Kishoreganj, Bengal Province, British India |
| Died | 18 August 1980 (aged 68) Kolkata, West Bengal, India |
| Residence | 174-E Rashbehari Avenue, Kolkata, West Bengal, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Other names | George-da |
| Occupation | vocalist |
| Years active | 1940–71 |
| Known for | Rabindra Sangeet singer |
| Website | www |
Debabrata Biswas (also known as George Biswas and George-da; 22 August 1911 – 18 August 1980), was an Indian Rabindra Sangeet singer.
Biswas was born in 1911 in Barisal and then later came to Kishoreganj of Mymensingh district of British colonial undivided Bengal province of India. It was the time when King George V was visiting India for the Delhi Durbar, so he was nicknamed George. He was popularly called George Biswas and George Da.
Biswas' music, though not always technically pristine, was notable for its exceptional depth of emotional expression verging on the dramatic. His early gramophone recordings of Tagore songs brought out in the early 1940s demonstrate soulful full-throated expression of melody with a strict adherence to the rules and norms of tradition, written and unwritten, which he felt obliged to break in the early 1960s – considered by most to be his heyday up to the year 1969. His renderings in this period show amazing power of voice and modulation, compounded with an overt emotional expression of a kind hitherto unpractised by his contemporaries and even himself. His voice at this period ranged at ease within the three octaves and with varied tempos and rhythms and showed a greater variety of emotional expression from the thunderous and rumbling to the soft and mellow. Somewhat audacious and overpowering in his personal feelings and mores, his enunciation of the words of over-used and hackneyed Tagore lyrics extracted new meanings and freshness from the compositions. Some of his numbers which go deep into the heart of Bengalis are Akash bhora surjo tara, Je ratey mor duarguli, Pinakete lagey tonkar, Tomar kache ebor magi, Chokher jole laglo joar, Swapne amar mone holo etc.
Biswas is the only singer who sang Rabindra Sangeet in Sanskrit, English, German, French, and Russian. He got trained at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Kolkata for learning rudiments of foreign languages .
Filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak took help of Biswas for song selection & play back of Tagore songs. Those Tagore songs used in the movies became extremely popular among the masses. Debabrata Biswas was actively engaged with IPTA group for a long period. He sang a few songs set to music by Salil Choudhury, Hemanga Biswas, Jyotirindra Moitra and recorded songs during the liberation movement of Bangladesh. Kazi Nazrul Islam himself was the trainer when Debabrata recorded Songs by Najrul.
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Wikipedia