Bashi to bajish na re – exactly how awesome is this? very! Baul music
// November 15th, 2009 // Music
YouTube - bashi to bajish na re.
Update: I orginally claimed this was rajisthani music – thank you to Layli and VB for pointing out the error. (see below).
(serves you right for believing anything you find here)
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Given that I grew up listening to Baul music, I had to correct you, it is not rajasthani music but music from West Bengal and Bangladesh sung by a syncretic religious sect comprised of Vaishnava Hindus and Sufi Muslims. Literary legends such as Rabindranath Tagore had been greatly influenced by Baul and you can see the spirit and essence of Baul in his poetry particularly Gitanjali. But you are right, Paban Das Baul is excellent.
lol, i’d just logged in to correct this post – it sounded a lot like the (little) bengali music i’ve listened to [see here: http://www.folkways.si.edu/trackdetail.aspx?itemid=9048 in its soft beauty but the link i got seemed to mention rajasthani, hence the confusion. (thanks also to VB, who pointed it out to me).
this is very interesting – any chance we could trouble you with a brief translation Layli :) ?
I really should be working on an essay on the Madras Presidency but procrastination and paban das has got the better of me, a literal translation of the first four lines is ‘oh flute, do not play, it inflames/adds to the pain of my heart, how do I tell you how weak I am,? Oh do not play’. Essentially, it’s a song about how music is woven into love, death, life, death, the rekindling of old memories etc etc. If you want a full translation, you need to give me a month and I’d happily do it for you……
if its any consolation – i should be doing predicate logic… you’ve really got me interested now, it would be great to get that translation! ill put it up here for posterity. Das Baul needs to be celebrated!
Quantification theory- yuck! I do feel much better now as I’m about to throw in the towel for the night and move onto Manto’s ‘Ganjey Farishte’- have you read? I shall indeed try to return to the translation if my absent-mindedness doesn’t get the better of me.
i’ve read only a bit of manto unfort – kaali shalwar, toba tek singh etc. ganjey farishtey sounds..intriguing.
Manto’s usually a little depressing though. In an english winter- i think i would be overwhelmed.
but (and this is from memory, so its probably way off), apparently this is what Manto wanted on his gravestone, which just goes to show why he was the great Manto:
his family in the end settles for something less controversial though…
if only i’d discovered this before:
http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=9531
Writer and historian William Dalrymple’s latest book Nine Lives is subtitled In search of the sacred in modern India. This special concert, curated by the author, brings together music and readings to offer a unique insight into some of the fascinating spiritual and musical traditions that still thrive in the subcontinent despite huge social and economic change.
Featuring the Bauls of Bengal – a group of itinerant mystic minstrels whose beliefs draw on Vaishnavite Hindu and Sufi Muslim thought – and the Shah Jo Raag Fakirs, who sing at the shrine of Sufi saint Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai in Sindh. Susheela Raman offers insight into the Thevaram hymns of Tamil Nadu, and there will also be Theyyam dance from Kerala.
What an interesting, and utterly useless trail to pursue! That’s what makes Streephotos so inimitable.