SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

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A Swedish View of Rabindranah Tagore
Cultural Program by Bubu Munshi-Eklund and Per Olov Henricson

Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengali poet, playwright, songwriter, painter, educationalist, and philosopher (in a recent biography he was called “The Myriad Minded Man”) received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.
His books were translated into Swedish and for several decades thereafter Tagore was a famous name in Sweden, a country he visited twice, in 1921 and 1926.

In recent years a renewed interest towards Rabindranath Tagore and his literary work has grown in Sweden, fuelled by new congenial translations of his poetry and songs from Bengali into English and Swedish. This program of music and literature highlights the life and works of one of the greatest personalities of the past 150 years (Rabindranath lived 1861–1941), and the relevance still inherent in his songs and his philosophy.

Bubu Munshi-Eklund is a professional singer, trained to sing Rabindranath Tagore’s songs at Rabindra Bharati University and Rabitirtha Institute in her native city Kolkata in India. Trained by Suchitra Mitra and Kanika Bandyopadhyay. Since 1983, she is living in Lund, Sweden, but still regularly performing at rabindrasangheet concerts accompanying herself on the Harmonium. She has appeared on Swedish TV and radio.

Per Olov Henricson lives in Stockholm and has pursued non-academic studies on Tagore. He has lived and worked in Bangladesh for some years, and has translated a number of Tagore’s poems into Swedish. During the programme, he deals with various aspects of his works and life, giving a personal account of reading the poetry in different English and Swedish translations.
A special focus is put on the Nobel laureate’s role to connect the cultures of the East and the West, travelling to a large number of countries all over the World.

This cultural program has been staged at several locations in Sweden, especially at libraries and museums, including a performance at The Nobel Museum in Stockholm in October 2002, an event attended by the then Ambassador of India to Sweden, Ms. Chitra Narayanan.

In 2011, Bubu and PO have performed in Lund during the Rabindranath Tagore 150th anniversary celebration week, held 20-24 March. More information.

Bubu then also performed alone at the Tagore celebration event held at Uppsala University on 8 May 2011 This performance was attended by the Ambassadors from both Bangladesh and India, Mr. Gousal Azam Sarker and Mr. Ashok Sajjanhar respectively. More information.

For more information, and in order to make bookings for the program,
please contact Per Olov Henricson, or Bubu Munshi-Eklund.