The interest abroad, especially in the West, in Rabindranath Tagore’s songs (Rabindrasangeet), poems, to a certain extent dance and the dance-dramas, has taken an upsurge during the past 50 years, reaching the climax in the 150th year of the bard’s birth anniversary.
Fascination for the music grew through people who showcased it through small presentations, which were essentially for social entertainment. But the surge of interest started with the influx of Rabindrasangeet singers, some dancers and the exchange of artists from the bard’s own homeland, West Bengal, to foreign soil. The Indian Council of Cultural Relations played a major role in establishing cultural centres throughout the world, together with other local organisations, mainly by Bengalis.