Zompist Bboard Again

Folk song by Nazrul: https://snapshotsofthelabyrinth.photo.b ... %e0%a7%8b/

Any advice on the English translation?

তার গলার মালার কুসুম কেড়ে করব কানের দুল।
Snatching away their throat’s garland, I’ll fashion my earrings.

Even Nazrul's folk songs have a kind of unsettling or violent quality to them.

Maybe it's just me, but Nazrul's song about the rain as a goddess sounds fantastically dynamic: https://snapshotsofthelabyrinth.photo.b ... %e0%a7%8d/

The singer is not a native Bengali speaker. I seem to detect a trace of an accent. The hardest part of Bengali for outsiders to believe is correct is often the shameless openness of the vowels. Compare: https://youtu.be/-Oro5r3DzP8

rotting bones wrote: ↑Mon Aug 31, 2026 2:02 pm Maybe it's just me, but Nazrul's song about the rain as a goddess sounds fantastically dynamic: https://snapshotsofthelabyrinth.photo.b ... %e0%a7%8d/

Actually, mɔre in the last line is completely mispronounced.

তার ভুরুর ধনুক বেঁকে ওঠে তনুর তলোয়ার,
Furrowing the bow above her eyes, her body a scimitar,

সে যেতে যেতে ছড়ায় পথে পাথর-কুচির হার।
While dancing by she scatters over the path a necklace of sharpened pebbles.

The first line is still confusing me. It says something like:

Her brow's bow gets furrowed, body's scimitar...

I think it's a reference to lightning. How to translate this?

Interestingly, this song is full of Islamic imagery and yet it clearly depicts the rain as a goddess.

rotting bones wrote: ↑Sat Sep 26, 2026 7:14 am Interestingly, this song is full of Islamic imagery and yet it clearly depicts the rain as a goddess.

If people would be logically consistent, that would be very confusing.

Raphael wrote: ↑Sat Sep 26, 2026 7:16 am

rotting bones wrote: ↑Sat Sep 26, 2026 7:14 am Interestingly, this song is full of Islamic imagery and yet it clearly depicts the rain as a goddess.

If people would be logically consistent, that would be very confusing.

It's like this on purpose. This is a reflection of Nazrul's aesthetic universalism. He thought artists should use Islamic imagery to greet the divine in nature. Accordingly, the tune is inspired by a Turkish folk song. Nazrul used to collect melodies from around the world. His soldier song from a few posts ago (March, March, March) is a Scottish march or something IIRC.

rotting bones wrote: ↑Sat Sep 26, 2026 7:32 am

Raphael wrote: ↑Sat Sep 26, 2026 7:16 am

rotting bones wrote: ↑Sat Sep 26, 2026 7:14 am Interestingly, this song is full of Islamic imagery and yet it clearly depicts the rain as a goddess.

If people would be logically consistent, that would be very confusing.

It's like this on purpose. This is a reflection of Nazrul's aesthetic universalism. He thought artists should use Islamic imagery to greet the divine in nature. Accordingly, the tune is inspired by a Turkish folk song. Nazrul used to collect melodies from around the world. His soldier song from a few posts ago (March, March, March) is a Scottish march or something IIRC.

Thank you for providing that background.

rotting bones wrote: ↑Sat Sep 26, 2026 7:14 am

তার ভুরুর ধনুক বেঁকে ওঠে তনুর তলোয়ার,
Furrowing the bow above her eyes, her body a scimitar,

সে যেতে যেতে ছড়ায় পথে পাথর-কুচির হার।
While dancing by she scatters over the path a necklace of sharpened pebbles.

The first line is still confusing me. It says something like:

Her brow's bow gets furrowed, body's scimitar...

I think it's a reference to lightning. How to translate this?

I really enjoyed listening to this song facilitated by the translation on your blog. Thanks.

Can you explain the lightning reference? If I read those words out of context, I would think it means something like 'her brow is furrowed in concentration, while her body moves [and flashes, etc] like a scimitar'

sasasha wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2026 5:13 am

rotting bones wrote: ↑Sat Sep 26, 2026 7:14 am

তার ভুরুর ধনুক বেঁকে ওঠে তনুর তলোয়ার,
Furrowing the bow above her eyes, her body a scimitar,

সে যেতে যেতে ছড়ায় পথে পাথর-কুচির হার।
While dancing by she scatters over the path a necklace of sharpened pebbles.

The first line is still confusing me. It says something like:

Her brow's bow gets furrowed, body's scimitar...

I think it's a reference to lightning. How to translate this?

I really enjoyed listening to this song facilitated by the translation on your blog. Thanks.

Can you explain the lightning reference? If I read those words out of context, I would think it means something like 'her brow is furrowed in concentration, while her body moves [and flashes, etc] like a scimitar'

I rather understood it as comparing the movement of lightning to a woman dancing. But I could be wrong — it’s definitely hard to understand.

A simple nursery rhyme style song by Salil Chowdhury: https://snapshotsofthelabyrinth.photo.b ... %e0%a7%87/

No interpretation issues here. The pretty maid has taken offence. She won't bind her hair. Bring her flowers and jewellery.

What might be surprising is that this scenario is traditional in Bengali folk: the pretty maid taking offence. It's woven in as the lily in Tagore's forest cycle songs: viewtopic.php?p=104988#p104988

Although the theme is as simple as it gets, I actually like the melody and even the lyrics. E.g. The phrase I translated as "pretty maid" isn't just that in the original. The original phrase has "fairytale princess" vibes to it.

Previous songs with the same theme (including one by Nazrul) had slower melodies. That has been partly modernized.

rotting bones wrote: ↑Mon Oct 05, 2026 7:09 am E.g. The phrase I translated as "pretty maid" isn't just that in the original. The original phrase has "fairytale princess" vibes to it.

In that case, I might suggest ‘maiden’ as a more appropriate translation.

bradrn wrote: ↑Mon Oct 05, 2026 8:02 am

rotting bones wrote: ↑Mon Oct 05, 2026 7:09 am E.g. The phrase I translated as "pretty maid" isn't just that in the original. The original phrase has "fairytale princess" vibes to it.

In that case, I might suggest ‘maiden’ as a more appropriate translation.

Thanks.

sasasha wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2026 5:13 am

rotting bones wrote: ↑Sat Sep 26, 2026 7:14 am

তার ভুরুর ধনুক বেঁকে ওঠে তনুর তলোয়ার,
Furrowing the bow above her eyes, her body a scimitar,

সে যেতে যেতে ছড়ায় পথে পাথর-কুচির হার।
While dancing by she scatters over the path a necklace of sharpened pebbles.

The first line is still confusing me. It says something like:

Her brow's bow gets furrowed, body's scimitar...

I think it's a reference to lightning. How to translate this?

I really enjoyed listening to this song facilitated by the translation on your blog. Thanks.

Can you explain the lightning reference? If I read those words out of context, I would think it means something like 'her brow is furrowed in concentration, while her body moves [and flashes, etc] like a scimitar'

I'm primed to think of lightning because the traditional lyrics to Raga Megh Malhar mention it. My interpretation is:

The brows are the dark clouds. The furrowing is them running into each other. The arc of lightning is the flashing of the curved scimitar.

I don't know whether the brow is the body's scimitar or the body is the scimitar.

(The bow, the sword and the sharp rocks are Nazrul inserting dangerous imagery again. That's his trademark style.)

bradrn wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2026 7:45 am

sasasha wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2026 5:13 am

rotting bones wrote: ↑Sat Sep 26, 2026 7:14 am
The first line is still confusing me. It says something like:

Her brow's bow gets furrowed, body's scimitar...

I think it's a reference to lightning. How to translate this?

I really enjoyed listening to this song facilitated by the translation on your blog. Thanks.

Can you explain the lightning reference? If I read those words out of context, I would think it means something like 'her brow is furrowed in concentration, while her body moves [and flashes, etc] like a scimitar'

I rather understood it as comparing the movement of lightning to a woman dancing. But I could be wrong — it’s definitely hard to understand.

You don't know the half of it. No one says [t̪onu] to mean "body". It's all poetic language.

Traditional fairytale in verse complete with magical princess: https://snapshotsofthelabyrinth.photo.b ... %E0%A6%AE/ (Trigger warning: Woman referred to as property?)

The princess has such an old timey upper class accent. lol

It took hours to translate this.

I still don't have anything useful or constructive to comment, but I'd like to stay that I'm following this with great interest. Thank you!

Ares Land wrote: ↑Fri Oct 16, 2026 1:10 pm I still don't have anything useful or constructive to comment, but I'd like to stay that I'm following this with great interest. Thank you!

Thanks. I'm worried who is speaking may not be obvious from the text alone.