His divine grace : A Baul singer performing his song with an Ektara (an one-stringed instrument) in his hand - VII
The singer was performing on a stage in our college program. Disturbing BG in the images were replaced by colors in photoshop .
Baul
The Bauls are a group of mystic minstrels from Bengal which includes Indian State of West Bengal and the country of Bangladesh. Bauls are a very heterogeneous group, with many sects, but their membership mainly consists of Vaishnava Hindus and Sufi Muslims.
They can often be identified by their distinctive clothes and musical instruments. Bauls believe in living the world as a half-sanyasi (detachment from families). They wander in the countryside of Bengal singing ecstatically of the “ways of love” and “joy of simple ways of living far from the materialistic world”. Baul thought has mixed elements of Tantra, Sufi Islam, Vaishnavism and Buddhism.
Their lyrics intertwine a deep sense of mysticism, a longing for oneness with the divine. An important part of their philosophy is "Deha tatta", a spirituality related to the body rather than the mind. They seek the divinity in human beings. Metaphysical topics are dwelt upon humbly and in simple words. They stress remaining unattached and unconsumed by the pleasures of life even while enjoying them. To them we are all a gift of divine power and the body is a temple, music being the path to connect to that power.
With their simple instruments, mostly Ektara (a single string instrument), and percussions, they perform in the temple premises, amidst pure nature, village roads, village fair etc. and sometimes alone for their own pleasure.
Not much is known of their origin. Lalon Fokir is regarded as the most important poet-practitioner of the Baul tradition. Baul music had a great influence on Rabindranath Tagore's poetry and on his music. Though Bauls comprise only a small fraction of the Bengali population, their influence on the culture of Bengal is considerable. In 2005, the Baul tradition was included in the list of "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by UNESCO.
Bauls pour out their feelings in their songs but never bother to write them down. Theirs is essentially an oral tradition. It is said that Lalon Fokir (1774 -1890), the greatest of all Bauls, continued to compose and sing songs for decades without ever stopping to correct them or put them on paper. It was only after his death that people thought of collecting and compiling his repertoire.
Bauls use a number of musical instruments: the most common is the ektara, a one-stringed "plucked drum" drone instrument, carved from the epicarp of a gourd, and made of bamboo and goatskin. Others include the dotara, a long-necked fretless lute (while the name literally means "two stringed" it usually has four metal strings) made of the wood of a jackfruit or neem tree; besides khamak, one-headed drum with a string attached to it which is plucked. The only difference from ektara is that no bamboo is used to stretch the string, which is held by one hand, while being plucked by another. Drums like the duggi, a small hand-held earthen drum, and dhol and khol; small cymbals called khartal and manjira, and the bamboo flute are also used. Ghungur and nupur are anklets with bells that ring while the person wearing them dances.
Ektara
Ektara (one-string) called iktar, ektar, yaktaro, gopichand, gopichant, gopijiantra, tun tuna) is a one-string instrument most often used in traditional music from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Egypt.
His divine grace : A Baul singer performing his song with an Ektara (an one-stringed instrument) in his hand - VII
The singer was performing on a stage in our college program. Disturbing BG in the images were replaced by colors in photoshop .
Baul
The Bauls are a group of mystic minstrels from Bengal which includes Indian State of West Bengal and the country of Bangladesh. Bauls are a very heterogeneous group, with many sects, but their membership mainly consists of Vaishnava Hindus and Sufi Muslims.
They can often be identified by their distinctive clothes and musical instruments. Bauls believe in living the world as a half-sanyasi (detachment from families). They wander in the countryside of Bengal singing ecstatically of the “ways of love” and “joy of simple ways of living far from the materialistic world”. Baul thought has mixed elements of Tantra, Sufi Islam, Vaishnavism and Buddhism.
Their lyrics intertwine a deep sense of mysticism, a longing for oneness with the divine. An important part of their philosophy is "Deha tatta", a spirituality related to the body rather than the mind. They seek the divinity in human beings. Metaphysical topics are dwelt upon humbly and in simple words. They stress remaining unattached and unconsumed by the pleasures of life even while enjoying them. To them we are all a gift of divine power and the body is a temple, music being the path to connect to that power.
With their simple instruments, mostly Ektara (a single string instrument), and percussions, they perform in the temple premises, amidst pure nature, village roads, village fair etc. and sometimes alone for their own pleasure.
Not much is known of their origin. Lalon Fokir is regarded as the most important poet-practitioner of the Baul tradition. Baul music had a great influence on Rabindranath Tagore's poetry and on his music. Though Bauls comprise only a small fraction of the Bengali population, their influence on the culture of Bengal is considerable. In 2005, the Baul tradition was included in the list of "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by UNESCO.
Bauls pour out their feelings in their songs but never bother to write them down. Theirs is essentially an oral tradition. It is said that Lalon Fokir (1774 -1890), the greatest of all Bauls, continued to compose and sing songs for decades without ever stopping to correct them or put them on paper. It was only after his death that people thought of collecting and compiling his repertoire.
Bauls use a number of musical instruments: the most common is the ektara, a one-stringed "plucked drum" drone instrument, carved from the epicarp of a gourd, and made of bamboo and goatskin. Others include the dotara, a long-necked fretless lute (while the name literally means "two stringed" it usually has four metal strings) made of the wood of a jackfruit or neem tree; besides khamak, one-headed drum with a string attached to it which is plucked. The only difference from ektara is that no bamboo is used to stretch the string, which is held by one hand, while being plucked by another. Drums like the duggi, a small hand-held earthen drum, and dhol and khol; small cymbals called khartal and manjira, and the bamboo flute are also used. Ghungur and nupur are anklets with bells that ring while the person wearing them dances.
Ektara
Ektara (one-string) called iktar, ektar, yaktaro, gopichand, gopichant, gopijiantra, tun tuna) is a one-string instrument most often used in traditional music from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Egypt.