The national anthem of India, ‘Jana Gana Mana,’ is written and sung by Rabindranath Tagore. Rabindranath Tagore, a polymath with expertise in various subjects, was the first person from India and Asia to win the Nobel Prize in 1913. The national anthem was adopted from Tagore’s Bengali song, ‘Bharato Bhagyo Bidhata,’ composed on 11th December 1911.
This Bengali song was first sung by Rabindranath Tagore himself in a public appearance in a session held by the Indian National Congress in Calcutta (now called Kolkata) on 27th December 1911. Later, on February 28th 1919, Rabindranath Tagore translated ‘Bharato Bhagyo Bidhata’ into English when he visited a college in Madanapalle and titled it ‘The Morning Song of India.’
Did you know the song was rumoured to be written in order to honour a British king? Coincidentally, Tagore wrote the song just a day before the coronation of King George V, and people quickly assumed that the song was penned in the glory of the British king. Tagore was highly distressed by this rumour and issued a letter revealing that he had written ‘Bharato Bhagya Bidhata’ to honour the victory and greatness of India and not to praise any British King.
Another lesser-known fact is that the Bengali song has five stanzas. However, only the first stanza was officially adopted as the national anthem of India by the Constituent Assembly of India two days before India’s first republic day- 24th January 1950.
Subhash Chandra Bose selected the song to be India's national anthem. He was in Germany for the occasion of the founding meeting of the German-Indian Society on 11th September 1942. That’s when ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was played for the first time as the National Anthem of India by the Hamburg Radio Symphony Orchestra.
The complete version of the anthem is about 52 seconds long. However, a shortened version of the anthem is sung occasionally and is just 20 seconds long.
‘Jana Gana Mana’ is a powerful and inspiring melody to play on the piano. It fills one with pride and respect for the nation. Our piano song lesson on ‘Jana Gana Mana’ for intermediates is very detailed and can help you learn the song quicker than you expected. The instructor for the ‘Jana Gana Mana’ piano lesson for intermediates is Harrison Light. He has been playing piano professionally for over twenty years and is terrific at playing it! We’ve also got a simplified lesson on ‘Jana Gana Mana’ tailored for beginners. So, check out the easy version of ‘Jana Mana Gana’ if you have just stepped into the world of black and white keys.
Harrison has divided the intermediate version of the ‘Jana Gana Mana’ song tutorial into the following segments: Introduction, Chords, Demo, Song Arrangement, Song Demo Slow, and Advanced Solo Piano Version. Dividing the song into various sections facilitates smooth learning and easy grasping of techniques.
If you enjoyed our ‘Jana Gana Mana’ lesson, check out our other piano lessons by Harrison on the following songs: Sanam Re, Tum Hi Ho, and Jeena Jeena. On our platform, you can also access various piano playlists like Piano Pop and All-Time Classics to find similar songs in one place.
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