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Ambar Singh Roy

With the Net everything's within reach - including Rabindra Sangeet. Here's how you find your voice.

HIS association with music dates back 20 years. And continues, long after he left the popular band Krosswindz, where he was a founder-member, band leader and keyboard player. Today, Abhijit Patronobis has succeeded in his endeavour to integrate the concept of the Internet, online learning and music, through his portal, www.anandadhara.com, which is dedicated to Rabindra Sangeet (Songs of Tagore), arguably among the more notable passions of the Bengali diaspora worldwide. A portal where one can sing and learn Rabindra Sangeet and even exchange ideas and opinions on Tagore's songs. Incorporated in the portal is all that one needs to learn songs - the module, lyrics, notations, information about the song, et al. Each module contains all the elements for one song even as the lyrics are available in both Bengali and English. For the benefit of those who cannot read Bengali, the notations are also available in western staff.

At anandadhara.com, two levels of courses - Intermediate and Basic - are on offer. Songs there include classics such as Purnao Sei Diner Katka, Akash Bhora Surjya Tara, Alo Amar Alo, Agni Bina Bajao Tumi and Je Rate Mor Duar Guli, among others. Those wanting to learn songs from the portal could download them and listen to them first before moving into the practice mode. Here, the virtual teacher takes over. The teacher first sings line-by-line and then the music follows to enable the "student" to sing the song. The virtual teacher repeats the line so that the student can find out where he/she has made mistakes. In the next step, only the music plays for the student to sing along. In fact, the accompaniment from the module can be used during any live performance by plugging it into a public address system.

The portal has information on all songs including translations in verse form. In addition, it contains a summary of each song in prose form, teacher's note incorporating the form of music and the beat and the teachers' profile. The teachers of anandadhara.com are well-known names in the world of Rabindra Sangeet.

After learning the song, students can record it offline with the inbuilt accompaniment and the song will get saved automatically in an MP3 file. This can then be attached to e-mail and sent to the teachers at the portal. Facilities exist for one-to-one interaction through VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) using a webcam.

Says Patronobis of AKA Systems that owns the portal: "The best Rabindra Sangeet teachers live in Kolkata or Bangladesh. There are several people who reside elsewhere in India and abroad and want to learn Rabindra Sangeet. Anandadhara.com facilitates our distance learning programme on Rabindra Sangeet".

Having gone online only in September this year, the portal is hopeful of enrolling 500-700 students within the first year of its existence. Students from India and Bangladesh have to pay Rs 800 per month,as fees while those from elsewhere have to pay up $40 per month. Each student can learn a maximum of four modules a month. Those opting for Karaoke tracts have to pay $5 or Rs 225 per tract. On the revenue model, Patronobis said, "In western countries such as the US, music teachers generally charge by the hour, the lowest charge being $25 per hour.At $ 40 per month, we have resorted to very competitive pricing".

ambar_singhroy@rediffmail.com

Picture by V.V. Krishnan

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