Singing for harmony

Oikyotaan in concert with Bonnie Chakraborty (left)

The train journey from Kolkata to Santiniketan, a sleepy town in West Bengal, is about three hours long. If you were to take it, you'd be likely to come across a Baul travelling through the aisles, singing rustic songs about love, peace and harmony. They are people who belong to a sect of musicians, or wandering minstrels rather, who usually rely on elementary instruments like a dotara or khamaj to compose songs that, over the years, have become an integral part of the region's folk music tradition. But Bonnie Chakraborty now wants to elevate that soundscape at a virtual concert this week with his band, Bonnie and Oikyotaan, where he will infuse traditional instruments with electronic elements that appeal to the youth.

The reason, he says, is that he wants to give Baul music a wider sense of appeal that this genre has been denied. Chakraborty tells us, "Our culture is steeped too much in film music; everything starts and ends with it. And I felt that there was a need to introduce youngsters to where some of the tracks originally came from. For example, the tune for the yesteryears classic, Humein toh loot liya hai husn waalon ne from the film Al Hilali (1958) is copied from an old folk track, but how many people know that? How many people know about the similarities between a Kazi Najrul Islam composition and Boney M's famous Rasputin? I believe that it is important for the youth today to make these connections because they would not know where they stand, otherwise."

He adds that Baul philosophy itself is that there is no religion bigger than the religion of mankind - the worshipper and the shrine remain inside the body. The musician elaborates, "They don't believe in borders, and feel that the map should be one. They place women on a high pedestal and speak out against the practice of sati. These are relevant issues even today, when the world is being torn apart by religion. The Bauls were way ahead of their times and unless we learn more about such people, we will become more bankrupt by the day as we are forgetting where we belong to since we take so much from the West."

On: October 1, 7.30 pm
Log on to: insider.in
Cost: Rs 1,530