The Essence of Music : A Linguistic Approach to Modern Bengali Songs

Contents: Foreword. Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. An analysis of the language of modern Bengali songs. 3. An analysis of the form and content of modern Bengali songs. 4. An analysis of modern Bengali songs as metrical texts. 5. An analysis of modern Bengali songs as musical texts. 6. Concluding remarks. Bibliography.

"This book explores an exciting area of research study blending music and linguistics together. The book contains a linguistic analysis of modern Bengali songs from forties till seventies, with reference to language, form and content, metre and melody by applying linguistic methodology.

A number of works on Modern Bengali Songs have so far been made by different scholars from the literary point of view, as regards their development, composition, tune, lyrics and so on. But none of these works has discussed modern Bengali songs from the linguistic point of view. In that respect, this linguistic analysis is a pioneering work in the field of \'music\' and \'linguistics.\'

The study may form a happy basis for the comparative studies between lyric songs and other types of songs in Bengali and in other languages also, from the linguistic point of view." (jacket)