Magic minstrels

On a runway,Noor Mohammad’s patchwork kurta could well make spiffy fashion editors and fashion-righteous socialites arch eyebrows in appreciation. It’s a little lost on the congregation of equally colourfully attired bauls and fokirs he has for company in the dark,gloomy confines of Sujata Sadan,but seems to reinforce the zest of his performance nonetheless. Fifty-year-old Mohammad from a village in Birbhum,has been singing Lalan Fokir’s songs as long as he can recollect. “I was born to a family of fokirs and grew up listening to these songs. I know of no other way of living that this,” smiling Mohammad,after he is done rehearsing his songs. Mohammad and nearly a hundred more bauls and fokirs will be performing at the Tollygunge Club today to celebrate the launch of a website dedicated to them. “This is a great event. So many bauls and fokirs usually don’t get together in an Indian city for an event like this,” says Mohammad. What drew him to the event was not only the fact that he would introduce the city slickers to his world,but also the opportunity to perform with several other artists from across the state.

Laxman Das Baul,legendary Purna Das Baul’s younger brother,needs support to walk up to the stage. But once he starts strumming his ektara,he spells magic. It seems as if he is engaging in a musical conversation with the audience before him. “How was it? accha pass off or pass of? I am getting very old. Pardon me if you found faults in my singing,” he says humbly,as he is helped down the stairs.

The city will be witness to not just the best of the baul voices from across the state,but also some women bauls who seem to be giving their male counterparts a stiff competition. The focus of the concert too has been on the women bauls who are starting to find popular acceptance only recently.