Folk festival
Tuning into Baul songs
Cultural Correspondent
There was a time when rural Bangladesh would resonate with the beats of the dhol, the ektara and the mystical songs of the Bauls. The Bauls were a very colourful community, known for their wit, humour, nomadic lifestyle and mellifluous songs. Through their songs, the Bauls expressed their emotions, feelings, dreams and philosophy and also earned their livelihood. Today, this community is confronted with competition from the electronic media and is in danger of losing its charm. Against this setting what could be better to bid adieu to the past year and welcome the new year than a musical treat from these mystic singers? Pally Baul Samaj Unnayan Sangstha (PBSUS), an organisation that works hard to preserve and revive this Baul culture, organised a two-day long Baul Utshab to celebrate Chaitra Sangkranti and the first day of Bangla year --Pahela Baishakh. The first day of the celebration kicked off on April 13,with a colourful rally by the Bauls. After the speech of noted folk researcher Dr Ashraf Siddique, the celebration premises at Engineer's Institute echoed with the mystic tunes of Baul songs presented by the Bauls from all over the country. Most of the Baul Sufis sang of life, love and universal fraternity, which continued till midnight. The second day began with the celebration to welcome the new year. The President of PBSUS Ferdoushi Nazma inaugurated a documentation CD of Baul songs featuring 50 mystical songs in mp3 format, which would help preserve these precious songs, said a hopeful Nazma. The event featured day-night programmes including rendition of various types of Baul songs such as devotional, Marfati, Murshidi and Lalon Geeti, discussions on different aspects of the Baul cult, and the devotional chants of Bauls as well as well as fans of Baul songs. Around 70 Baul singers from distant places of the country and mainly from Kushtia's Lalon's Akhra (den) performed over two days. Popular names like Pagla Bablu, Akmal Shai Dayal, Baul Bimal, Abdul Latif Shai, Khorshed Alam, Samir Hossain, Ranjit Das, Mamatadasi, Baul Rahima, Bilquis Banu and others enthralled the music buffs. Apart from music, an exhibition of rare Baul musical instruments featuring khamak, dotara, ektara, dhol, mandira and others also attracted the spectators. Earlier, because of lack of sponsors, the enormous expenditure of such big occasion had to be borne by the poor Bauls themselves. But this year PBSUS organised an event and presented clothes and musical instruments to 50 insolvent male and female Baul singers.
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Baul artistes, (L-R) Ajmal Shah, Abdul Latif Shai, Pagla Bablu, Abdur Rahman Bayati, Alam Rahman and Nayan perform at the show |
