The 7th Baul-Fakir Utsav and notes from there

Seven years of a festival, an Utsav, which has total dedication but no worthwhile sponsorship or patronage, which has some of the best in ethnic Bangla folk music, audiences of no particular stereotype thoroughly enjoying themselves, and then you hear it may be the last one you'll get to attend.

Not good news when the day is washed out by unseasonal rain and the second day of the Utsav becomes a damp squib too. Still, the music never stopped.

Tipaniya and troupe from Maharashtra rendering Kabir were a revelation. It was the first time non-Bangla folk was performed here. Fakirs from Bangladesh and India dominated the first day and the rain stopped late night Baul performances. Not being able to go the second day, I heard disappointment all around, all due to the weather gods. But the music continued in the temporary akharas where these wandering minstrels held court in various locations around the Shaktigarh math.

The other not-so-good news I heard was that an organisation which has so far been doing fairly commendable work to promote ethnic musics like Baul, Fakir, Sufi and other strains has suddenly decided to aggressively promote their own edition of a Fakiri utsav at another location in a different district of Bengal on the same days when the iconic Joydeb Mela happens in Birbhum. This is also sad because the Shaktigarh Baul-Fakir Utsav of Calcutta takes pains to ensure their schedule never infringes on another similar music festival and they have a built-in convenience with their dates which lead naturally to the Joydeb Mela, next on the calendar for the performers and listeners.

The good news or thing that I saw this time was that there were significantly larger numbers of young people than previous years and more people spread the word about the Utsav through social network means. I’m unaware of how this may have translated into better revenues for the organisers but I sure hope it did. But this time I personally heard less music and indulged in a whole lot more of social niceties. And that made me wonder again about the future of such festivals.

Perhaps you do need aggressive promotion and corporate patronage. Where's the cut-off point? How do you know that the music and the musicians will not succumb to playing to the money, as opposed to playing for the money? Where's the guarantee that with changing listening dynamics, the music will not be completely corrupted into the fusion/confusion nonsense that has already taken hold in the world of music? I have no answers for these questions. I have some experience of promoting music and all I can say is that the lines are being blurred every day. Rock guitarists performing their own stuff at classical guitar concerts are a scary indication of how things are changing.

I’m far from being a purist. In fact I advocate change. I would not otherwise be a jazz lover. I’m not sure where these changes will lead, though it is a fact that all change leads to some where else. Ever the optimist, I have hope that the musicians themselves will be true to their calling and their creativity. The increasing presence and keen interest of younger people at such utsavs and jazz fests are surely indicative of not just change but also new directions, and this need not result in desultory fusion, that formula as dependable as Bollywood.

I am not one who wants things to be the way it was when I was young, or when I first heard the music. I’m just hoping that a lot of these unfortunate experiments in fusion music will die quick deaths. That as a listener and a regular purchaser of recorded works, I will be offered a bigger variety of new talent and skills who will adapt, interpret and improvise on what I believe are standards in music. Yes, of course social, political, economic and cultural changes will affect and influence the music. This is necessary. The direction it needs to go is not a bastardisation but a seamless development, a continuous process where external factors are incorporated, adapted, improvised with, rather than itself becoming the change. I’m not sure if I can explain because I’ve been writing about my feelings about music for so long and I’ve never been completely satisfied with what I think and how I express it.

Still, the Jadavpur Shaktigarh Baul-Fakir Utsav holds a special place in my heart. I don't want it to wrap up because the economics don't work out any longer. So if it comes to paying the piper then one might as well, provided of course that you are allowed to play your own tunes too.

Baul-Fakir Utsav 2009: An Appreciation

Saturday and Sunday the Bauls and Fakirs were in town. In Jadavpur town, which just happens to fall slightly outside Calcutta city's municipal limits, although the post office codes it in greater Calcutta.

Never mind the geography, here's my appreciation...

This is the fourth year that a dedicated bunch of people have organised this unique celebration of Bengal's folk music. They make no profits from this show, voluntarily work very hard to make it a success, and somehow keep it going every year through donations and measly sponsorships.

When I first went for this show two years ago, my initial reaction was to think of an alternative venue. Now, I appreciate the underlying thinking of the organisers at keeping it where they have been holding it for these 4 years, depending on the largesse of music lovers to sustain their annual event. Were it to go out of the area, it will either become too big to handle, or it will die a slow death.

Why could it become too big to handle? Because big sponsors are self-centred and think only of the mileage they can get from the money they spend. They will want slick publicity, large air-conditioned venues, high-priced entry tickets, maximised advertising opportunities, saturation media coverage especially by television, and celebrity attendees among other demands. When this happens, mediocrity steps in. Mediocrity has to be sold through hype since there's no other attraction. Mediocrity will make itself felt through the ruling parties' interference in due course. Suddenly there will be security checks, shallow glamour and cunning artifice, and authentic folk music will be forced into the realm, and worse still, the control of the glitterati.

That's when the slow death thing will begin.

Right now, the musicians themselves have begun to accord this event the importance and significance it deserves despite the much older and more prestigious events at Santiniketan's Pous Mela and the Joydeb Mela at Kenduli. This is probably one of the only events where Bauls and Fakirs share the same stage. While their music has common ground and roots, there is a distinct philosophical difference in their way of thinking. In social and economic terms, both groups of musicians again have similarities. They live on the fringes of accepted/acceptable social circumstances, almost outcasts, many of them subsisting on less than what we might spend on cigarettes or movies at the mall in a month. Yet, their commitment to their art and lifestyle, and the conviction of their philosophy keeps them going when perhaps many greater 'secular' artists from the city, faced with this way of life, would have committed suicide out of depression, or at the very least, looked for alternative means of livelihood. For all intents and purposes, sold out.

I cannot claim to even begin to understand the philosophy behind the music and art of the Bauls and Fakirs even as I appreciate it. Their music moves me to levels of conscious and subconscious awareness that few other genres of music can do for me; blues and jazz being the notable exceptions. And I consider the similarities between baul-fakir, blues and jazz to be eerie but significant. The roots of all three genres are poverty, disadvantaged circumstances.

I think of it simplistically. These musicians keep going at their art, constantly honing their skills, widening their knowledge base, never too sure of where and when their next meal will come from, how tomorrow will fare for them. I wish I had the guts to do the same. So I do the next best thing. I help them in small ways, encourage their earnings through their art alone.

And the Shaktigarh Baul-Fakir Utsav must continue where it began. How refreshing to not have to tolerate ignorant bag and body searches, walk through metal-detector gates, stand in line for tickets, buy only pre-packaged food and drink of some American corporation, and be separated from the musicians by a high proscenium and bored police that effectively walls you off from enjoying the music utterly. The walls and roof of the “auditorium” are of sack cloth and tarpaulin, the structure of bamboo.

The floor is covered with dry rushes and hay strewn here and there with large cotton mats for you to sit on. A handful of chairs are provided for senior citizens or those with arthritis and rheumatism. As you are about to enter, a small counter with a box for donations is visible for you to give what you can. Another stall sells CDs of past concerts at ridiculous prices.

The open field where this event takes place is bang in the centre of a middle-class residential locality. On other days, youngsters use it as a playing field. Residents of the area, their friends, relatives and well-wishers, all chip in with whatever assistance they can offer. The local club and residents offer space to accommodate the musicians and their families for three or four days at no cost. The food you can buy is home-made and tastes as good - simple, cheap and nutritious. If you are inclined to partake of alcohol and marijuana to heighten your listening pleasure, you can do so quite openly with no one making a fuss, as long as you don't. The first night, some random party cadre tried to object to the open drinking and smoking going on. He was picked up by the scruff of his neck and pitched out of the place. That was it. Peace and calm after that. As it was before. And of course, the great music continued.

Children were all over the place, as were the elderly, all sharing the same space to indulge themselves in music that touches your soul, tugs at your heartstrings, melts your self into a nothing that is not more important than the music.

For the musicians, this place offers a return to an enthusiastic, unbiased audience. People come here for the music alone, and the music provides a rare opportunity for personal, social interaction which is warm, friendly and inspiring. Basically: a lovely atmosphere, great ambience. Going by the crowd this time, as well as the various other nationalities present, this Utsav cannot be allowed to become some corporate hegemony. The organisers of this event have so far managed to strike a precarious, and I might add, a precious balance between art and commerce, more in favour of the art thankfully. They have come together from all walks of life with a shared vision and the enthusiastic spirit to genuinely promote art and creativity without overt concern for profit or personal gain.

We need more such people in this world.

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You can see some more photos of the musicians here.