MANSUR FAKIR Mansur Fakir, who is one of the foremost exponents to carry on Lalon Fakir's legacy in Bengal, and who recently won the Sangeet Samman 2012 Award, conducted a workshop at EZCC, with the support of the Sahajiya Foundation, from June 5 to 8, 2012.The workshop not only taught Fakiri songs and their theory, but also dealt in detail on what sets Baul, Fakiri and Darbeshi songs apart. In this age of urbanization and commercialization, the fact that so many people turned up to learn Fakiri songs, was proof that the more complicated our lives become, the more people turn to these songs, to come closer to their heritage. Songs composed by Lalon like 'Barir Kache Arshi Nagar' and 'Pare Jabi Ke' are very popular songs of him. The evening 22nd Dec'12 is going with the presentation of Darbeshi songs and Lalangiti by the world famous fakir and the members of the 'Sahajiya' Foundation.
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Sufi Music from around the World (2011) 04 - Gorbhanga Fakirs 28th September 2011 at Barbican, London EC2.
“The Estatic Journey: Music from around the Sufi World”, Part of Transcender Festival.
Country: India. Style: Sufi Music - Gana & Bangla Qawwali.
Lineup: Vocalists/Dotaras (2-string lutes), Harmonium, Dholak, Jhuri (small cymbals).
The group comes from Gorbhanga in West Bengal (north of Kolkata, near the Bangladesh border). They are Bauls, the traveling minstrels of Bengal. The group play Gana (devotional songs influenced by Bakti and Sufism), and Bangla Qawwali (influenced by the Pakistani Sufi style).
The Fakirs of Gorbhanga (Bengal)
At the occasion of a special Event (THE SUFI NIGHT) at La Cité de la Musique in Paris in October 2011... Thanks to Edith NICOL.
Art for changeIndia Blooms News Service
Folk art forms have been with the rural communities for centuries but now the artists have been encouraged to develop them into new forms to ensure commercial success and empowerment, finds Baishali Mukherjee
Residing in a far away village in Nadia of West Bengal, nobody knew Golam Fakir as an artist six years ago. Belonging to a marginalised community and without formal education, Golam used to carry dead bodies from the police station to the morgue. His is a fascinating story of transformation- from a nonentity despised by many in the neighbourhood, to a celebrity singer Baul geet, a form of Bengal’s folk song, in a span of six years.
He has performed all over India and has travelled to UK, Switzerland, France, Tunisia, Scotland and China. His income has gone up from around Rs 200 a month to Rs 30,000 now. Golam narrates his experience through this journey in his own fashion, “I never thought of anything beyond my two meals few years back, and now I’ve the opportunity to travel across the globe and perform on stage with great musicians and performers, and represent my country in front of the global audience. It fills my heart when people appreciate and applaud Baul music,” he says.
Moyna Chitrakar is a patua (from patachitra) artist who specializes in scroll painting of Bengal. Her story too reflects how women have been empowered through exposition of their art. Moyna and her husband Malekh used to earn about one thousand a month six years ago. Today her family earns many times over. She has travelled with her paintings and other diversified products to different parts of India attending fairs and festivals. She even went to China to attend an industrial fair in Shenzhen. With her money she has also constructed a two storey house in her village where tourists can stay. Moyna is a confident woman today and says, “We can concentrate on our work now as we don’t need to worry about our next meal anymore.”
Crafting this change since 2004 is banglanatak dot com, a social development organization in Kolkata. Elucidating the process of change, Amitabha Bhattacharya, director, says, “Culture is a great enabler. It fosters social inclusion. Oral and performing art traditions are an asset for developing rural enterprise.” New markets are created and new brands can be developed to promote traditional performing and visual arts and crafts, he points out. “Heritage becomes a means of livelihood and empowerment. The motto is ‘To preserve art, let the artists survive’,” he adds.
The ministry of culture, West Bengal, supported the initiative between 2005 and 2009. In December, 2009, the European Union provided support to the project named Ethno Magic Going Global (EGG) to take ethno art to the global arena. The project has created a tremendous impact leading to socio economic development of the beneficiaries and their communities. With identity being changed from ‘daily unskilled labour’ to ‘artist’, they are now coming forward to participate even in the development process.
Revitalizing and reviving these heritage skills as means of livelihood necessitates mobilizing changes in mindset and attitudes as the folk artists become ‘cultural service providers’. A comprehensive training and capacity building programmes was undertaken after the formation of a Self Help Group to help innovate new ways of rendering the traditional art forms. The aim was to establish a guru- shishya parampara- where skilled craftsmen pass on their knowledge to the practicing artists.
Winds of change have now started blowing elsewhere too. Recently, LNG Petronet, one of the fastest growing companies in the Indian energy sector, has come up with the documentation of Swang- a popular form of folk theatre in rural Haryana and Punjab and an integral part of their rich cultural heritage. It aims at introducing the form among the connoisseurs to facilitate its preservation and promotion.
However, awareness about this form of performing art is low among the urban youth or even among the modern theatre groups. According to Kishan Kumar, a theatre activist of Rohtak, Haryana, the government organizes Swang to raise money from the public for repair or construction of schools or roads. Its popularity may be gauged by the fact that around rupees two to three lakh was raised from a single performance of Swang in Haryana. “If made into compact and short productions, Swang can prove to be a popular entertainment form,” feels Kamal Tewari, chairperson of Sangeet Natak Akademi in Chandigarh.
Taking the cultural revival a step further, banglanatak dot com has also taken the initiative to incubate and enliven the age old art forms of Bihar from becoming moribund. Apart from the Madhubani painting no other folk form of Bihar is well-known today.
Efforts are on to rejuvenate the feisty cultural inventory of Bihar that includes folk songs like Sohar, Nirgun, Kajri, and Byaas, dance like Jhijia, dramas like Ramleela, Nautanki etc, tribal dance like Santhali dance and crafts like sujni (embroidered quilts) and sikki (grass weaving). More than a thousand individuals with knowledge about these art forms have been identified under a project.
Apart from art forms, the scope for developing ethno-cultural tourism offering authentic experience of indigenous life is also being explored. From places like Gorbhanga, a village located in Nadia district that houses a band of Baul artists, Pingla, home to around 300 patuas in West Midnapore district and Jangal Mahal in Bengal, to Tinsukia in Assam and also Goa, are being developed as community led ethno-tourism destinations by exploring the traditional artistic skills of local population as primary resources.
The important impact of developing tourism in these places will be restoration of peace in the disturbed areas of Bengal and Assam through inclusive growth of the aboriginal people of those areas.
In today’s world of intolerance and unrest culture can prove to be a potential tool for establishing universal peace and brotherhood. For as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said “Hatred is something peculiar. You will always find it strongest and most violent where there is the lowest degree of culture.”
MANSUR FAKIR
INDRADEEP GHOSH
AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS :
• Awarded 1st position in All India Radio Music competition in 1999.
• Awarded National Scholarship from Dept. of Culture, Govt. of India in 2002.
• Awarded 1st position in Swar Prabhat Telent Search Contest.
• Received Rajya Sangeet Academy Award
ACHIEVEMENTS:
He is an empanelled artiste of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC).He is presently a “B-High” grade artiste of All India Radio. He has received Sangeet Bivakar Diploma from Bangia Sangeet Parishad, Kolkata, affiliated to Rabindra Bharati University and Sangeet Visharad Diploma from Pracheen Kala Kendra, Chandigarh.
One of the most talented young Violinist of India & a torch bearer of Seni – Maihar gharana, Indradeep was initiated in the art of playing Violin at his tender age of six under the able guidance of Sri Anamitra Mustafi. From the year 1991, he is under the tutelage of Prof. Smt. Sisirkana Dhar Chowdhury. He has also the privilege of getting occasional talim from other maestros of Indian Classical Music like Pt. V.G.Jog and Pt. Kumar Bose. Apart from Indian Classical Music, Indradeep has the fondness toward theeWestern Classical Music too, and he has received his western lessons from late Sri Samir Sil.
He is born with gifted talent of creativity and having such a strong guiding line-up, his performance has naturally became sweet, soothing, fascinating yet thrilling and is full of creative intelligence, excellent bowing technique and melody. His style of playing is a blend of ‘gayki’ and ‘tantrakari’ ang. His fortes are ‘taan’ and ‘jhala’
Along the years, Indradeep has participated in several music festivals and concerts of India and abroad like – Asia Festival in Barcelona, Memorial Concert for Chile in Koln, Biswa Banga Sammelan, Baba Allauddin Memorial Festival, Salt Lake Music Festival, Prativa Utsav organised by EZCC, Dover Lane Music Festival, Kal Ke Kalakar Sangeet Sammelan Mumbai, Kala Prakash Varanasi, Kashi sangeet Samaj, Cultural Exchange Programme organised by Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan in Chennai, IIT Delhi, Delhi Cant.etc and has also performed extensively in USA and several European Countries like Germany, France, Austria, Luxemburg, Spain, Denmark, Netherland etc. Moreover he has participated as a guest violin player in “Evening Live Show” & “Subha Savere” from Doordarshan Kendra New Delhi and is a regular performer from All India Radio Kolkata. He is also associated with several top grade fusion music bands like “Rhythmscape” of percussionist Bikram Ghosh and “Karma” of Subhen Chatterjee. He has composed theme music for the Kolkata Children’s Book Fair 2008.
He has to his credit many Classical and Fusion Music albums. The major among them is “Flames – The passion of Indian Raga”, where he has been accompanied on tabla by Pandit Kumar Bose.
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• Awarded 1st position in All India Radio Music competition in 1999.
• Awarded National Scholarship from Dept. of Culture, Govt. of India in 2002.
• Awarded 1st position in Swar Prabhat Telent Search Contest.
• Received Rajya Sangeet Academy Award
ACHIEVEMENTS:
He is an empanelled artiste of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC).He is presently a “B-High” grade artiste of All India Radio. He has received Sangeet Bivakar Diploma from Bangia Sangeet Parishad, Kolkata, affiliated to Rabindra Bharati University and Sangeet Visharad Diploma from Pracheen Kala Kendra, Chandigarh.
One of the most talented young Violinist of India & a torch bearer of Seni – Maihar gharana, Indradeep was initiated in the art of playing Violin at his tender age of six under the able guidance of Sri Anamitra Mustafi. From the year 1991, he is under the tutelage of Prof. Smt. Sisirkana Dhar Chowdhury. He has also the privilege of getting occasional talim from other maestros of Indian Classical Music like Pt. V.G.Jog and Pt. Kumar Bose. Apart from Indian Classical Music, Indradeep has the fondness toward theeWestern Classical Music too, and he has received his western lessons from late Sri Samir Sil.
He is born with gifted talent of creativity and having such a strong guiding line-up, his performance has naturally became sweet, soothing, fascinating yet thrilling and is full of creative intelligence, excellent bowing technique and melody. His style of playing is a blend of ‘gayki’ and ‘tantrakari’ ang. His fortes are ‘taan’ and ‘jhala’
Along the years, Indradeep has participated in several music festivals and concerts of India and abroad like – Asia Festival in Barcelona, Memorial Concert for Chile in Koln, Biswa Banga Sammelan, Baba Allauddin Memorial Festival, Salt Lake Music Festival, Prativa Utsav organised by EZCC, Dover Lane Music Festival, Kal Ke Kalakar Sangeet Sammelan Mumbai, Kala Prakash Varanasi, Kashi sangeet Samaj, Cultural Exchange Programme organised by Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan in Chennai, IIT Delhi, Delhi Cant.etc and has also performed extensively in USA and several European Countries like Germany, France, Austria, Luxemburg, Spain, Denmark, Netherland etc. Moreover he has participated as a guest violin player in “Evening Live Show” & “Subha Savere” from Doordarshan Kendra New Delhi and is a regular performer from All India Radio Kolkata. He is also associated with several top grade fusion music bands like “Rhythmscape” of percussionist Bikram Ghosh and “Karma” of Subhen Chatterjee. He has composed theme music for the Kolkata Children’s Book Fair 2008.
He has to his credit many Classical and Fusion Music albums. The major among them is “Flames – The passion of Indian Raga”, where he has been accompanied on tabla by Pandit Kumar Bose.
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SUBIR ROY Qualified as a M.A in in instrumental music (flute)
from Rabindra Bharati University. ( First class first, Gold Medalist, 2002) SURMANI title award winner 2006 Winner of National Youth Festival Award (2000).
West Bengal State Student-Youth Festival(1999). Calcutta Students & Youth Festival(1999)
Archarya Allauddin Sangeet Chakra Utkarsha Puroskar,
Nirad Baran Smriti Puroskar, Hiren Roy Smriti Puros (Rabindra Bharati University2002).
A very popular promissing flute player in Bengal as well as in India. A well known artist in ihe T.V channel Zee Bangla. He plays all kind of music - modern songs to folks, semi-classical to classicals. 'Winds and Melodies' is a stunning creation of him.
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from Rabindra Bharati University. ( First class first, Gold Medalist, 2002) SURMANI title award winner 2006 Winner of National Youth Festival Award (2000).
West Bengal State Student-Youth Festival(1999). Calcutta Students & Youth Festival(1999)
Archarya Allauddin Sangeet Chakra Utkarsha Puroskar,
Nirad Baran Smriti Puroskar, Hiren Roy Smriti Puros (Rabindra Bharati University2002).
A very popular promissing flute player in Bengal as well as in India. A well known artist in ihe T.V channel Zee Bangla. He plays all kind of music - modern songs to folks, semi-classical to classicals. 'Winds and Melodies' is a stunning creation of him.
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JAYANTA PANDEY Jayanta Pandey started his musical training at the tender age of four, under his father Ashis Kumar Pandey and later, Bhismadev Bhattacharya. He was a scholar at ITC SRA between 1980 and 1984 under the guidance of Ajoy Chakrabarty. He later trained under Ustad Munawar Ali Khan and then, Prasun and Meera Bandopadhyay. He received the National Scholarship award in 1990 and is a regular artist of All India Radio and Doordarshan. Jayanta has numerous performances to his credit. From 1995, he has been a staff artist of AIR, Kolkata and is currently continuing his research in the Gayakee of Patiala gharana.
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DIPALI BANIK
She is a very good singer,specially on Rabindrasangeet. Her melodious voice and the pronounciation is extreamly good. In various auditoriums of Kolkata like Rabindra Sadan,Mahajati Sadan, Sishir Mancha,Nazrul Mancha,etc....she performs Rabindrasangeet. 'CHHANDAM', Bethuadahari, is a cultural school, created by this hidden jem who really wants to hidden herself.
DIPANKAR ROY
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