Tunes that echo across the peripheries of lands – deserts, rivers, hills and forests – form the gist of the genre known as “folk music”. And “folk song” is the combination of the reverberating sounds with lyrics that reflect the daily lives of ordinary people – their trials and tribulations, their love and longing, the hopes in their hearts, the spirituality in their souls. Whether the Bauls of Bengal or the Country singers of California, they capture indigenous emotions, often injected with heavy doses of humor.
Goes the words of a famous traditional Baul song: “Chite gure pipre porle/shey pipre lorti chorti parena….goley maley, goley maley pirit koiro na.” (When an ant falls into sticky molasses, it can’t move….don’t fall, in a hurry, into the stickiness of love).
And an American Country song taps into the loneliness of a farmer finding himself redundant in a world where his skills are no longer needed: “I am gonna leave old Texas now/’Cause they got no use for a longhorn cow”. The lyrics of both songs reflect the local dialect and emotions experienced by the simple, naïve inhabitants of remote, rural regions. But the core of the emotions expressed, transcends boundaries and touches cords universally.
No wonder then that successful composers from the urban mainstreams have transported folk tunes from the backgrounds and brought them into focus, fusing them with words that are relatable to the urbane. Legendary music composers, from Sachin Deb Burman to Salil Chowdhury often merged folk tunes with sophisticated lyrics. Bob Dylan and the Beatles too did the same. Examples galore.
There is a trend today.
Purists are endeavoring to return to the roots and bring back and into focus folk songs in their pure forms….complete with lyrics and instrumentation that reflect the original versions….rustic and rural, simple and soulful.
Musician Deb Chowdhury is doing just that. He has started the folk band, “Sahajiya” (literally, simple and spontaneous). Its goal, according to Chowdhury is “to work towards the revival and promotion of Bengali folk music and bring it to the fore, taking it to the world stage of music.”
Recently Chowdhury performed at two events of The Statesman, including on January 11, the musical concert of The Statesman Vintage and Classic Car Rally and earlier at the Rotary Sadan Auditorium.
On December 16, his band celebrated the 13th anniversary of the first performance of Sahajiya with a spectacular musical extravaganza at Calcutta’s iconic Rabindra Sadan Auditorium which was packed to capacity.
Debdas Baul, Mansur Fakir, Suvendu Maiti, Ranjan Prasad, Swapan Bosu, Kartik Das Baul, Laksman Das Baul, Gautam Das Baul, Rina Dasi, Soumitra, Upal, Anindya, Sidhu, Pota, Rupankar, Ritika, Jayati, Rathijit, Gabu, Arkadip, Ananya, Aratikka, Hridisrota, Shovon Sundar, Mounita, Piyali each sang one song. Requests for “encore” could not be heeded due to the lack of time.
Gabu’s rendition of his father, Gautam Chakraborty’s composition, “kokhon tomar ashbe telephone” was electrifying and sent a wave of energy across the auditorium, warming up a cold winter evening. Gautam Chakraborty whose band Mohiner Ghoraguli, had ushered in an era of pathbreaking Bengali songs in the late 1970s and early 1980s was a composer of rare genius who died too early. But his music continues to mesmerize us. His song “Prithibi ta naki choto hotey hotey….” Has been adapted into Hindi…. the hit song, “Na janey koi kaise hain yeh zindegani”.
Deb Chowdhury says that it was Gautam Chatterjee’s music which inspired him to follow the path of music and that he was and will always remain his guru. Deb is also a disciple of the late Kalachand Darbesh, the last Darbesh of Bengal.
For the past 25 years Chowdhury has also worked for the Indigenous Art & Culture of India. This, along with the foundation of Sahajiya, has allowed him to help promote over three hundred musicians and artists. Whether assistance through access or exposure, lucre or lessons, the idea has been to highlight their talents….across the state, the country and abroad.
“This is my life’s purpose,” he says definitively.
One of the aspects of folk music is reviving and bringing to the fore indigenous instruments like the Baul’s “ektara” and “dotara”. The celebration showcased the talents of Tarun, Kanai, Suman, Bikash, Sanjay, Chandan, Shankar, Sanjib, Pankaj, Baku, Bajra, Shyam, Indra, Abhik, Baptu, Tapan, Bitu and Bachaspati.
Sahaj Surer Pathshala, the music school of Sahajiya Foundation and the folk band Sahajiya Lokganer Dol, delivered dramatic dance performances to foot-tapping chorus music.
The highpoint of the celebration was an “aghori nritya”, which like the “tandav nritya” or the divine dance of Lord Shiva, is a dark, mystical journey of sorts accompanied by low key, bass music and the thumping of feet invoking the divine energies. It was performed by the Sahajiya troupe.
The deserts, rivers, hills and forests echo with the sounds and reverberations of the tunes and words of the common folk. It is a blessing to have the remote regions brought to us by transporting those sounds, those echoes, those reverberations to our auditoriums.
(The writer is Editor, Features.)