Swansong

He seems a tad uncomfortable in front of the arc-lights,but Kalachand Darbesh has an instinctive understanding of his audience.

Renowned folk artiste Kalachand Darbesh enthralls in his last public appearance

He seems a tad uncomfortable in front of the arc-lights,but Kalachand Darbesh has an instinctive understanding of his audience. Whether it’s bemused passengers in a local train in North Bengal (where he usually performs for money) or an auditorium full of fawning admirers,Kalachand manages to get under the skin of his listeners,retelling their stories,reliving their memories. Which is probably why there were hardly a dry eye in the EZCC auditorium last week,where the celebrated Darbesh made his last public appearance. Though we tend to club Darbeshis with Bauls,they follow an entirely different way of life,one which encourages followers to talk of Allah and idol in the same breath.

But those who braved the elements to be a part of an event to honour this great performer,witnessed something rare religion being elevated to spiritualism.

Giving Kalachand company was the Bengali folk band Sahajiya. It’s unfortunate that very little has been done to secure the future of our folk performers. We tend to take them for granted. Even a month ago a great performer like Kalachand Darbesh had to sing in local trains to make ends meet, says Deb,founder member of the band Sahajiya. In order to secure the future of folk artistes of Bengal,Sahajiya has set up a fund in association with the Ministry of Culture. Thanks to this initiative by the government and the contributions of many folk music lovers,we have managed to arrange for pensions for a considerable number of folk artistes. We hope to include many other artistes in this scheme, says deb.

If you want to contribute to this fund visit http://www.sahajiya.org

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