The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Music that transcends barriers

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Kerala - Kochi

Music that transcends barriers

Staff Reporter

For those interested in losing out to the wilderness of mysticism, it is a rare chance.

KOCHI: The city seems to have a good share of Baul music this week. The Bank Employees Arts Movement Ernakulam (BEAME) will have as its monthly programme a full Baul performance.

This comes a day after the team performs after the inauguration of the 10-day Cross Country national art exhibition and festival of world cinema, organised by the Kerala Lalitkala Akademi at the Durbar Hall Art Centre on Thursday. The Beame programme is being held at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan hall on Friday at 6.15 p.m.

For those interested in losing out to the wilderness of mysticism, it is a rare chance, two days back-to-back. Bauls are mostly a heterogeneous group, comprising people from different streams of society.

The Baul philosophy is believed to bring together strains of Vaishnavaite Hinduism, Sufism and Buddhism. Bauls, who prefer the freedom of the street to that of established social living, have inspired many musicians of their times.

It has been pointed out that Rabindranatha Tagore’s music had visible influence of Baul music. The Baul stands for freedom from all constraints – that of society, caste and even religion, and aim for finding harmony between physical and spiritual needs.

In 2005, the UNESCO included Baul music in the elite list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. The entry in the UNESCO proclamation says, “Baul music represents a particular type of folk song, carrying influences of Hindu bhakti movements as well as the shuphi, a form of Sufi song. Songs are also used by the spiritual leader to instruct disciples in Baul philosophy, and are transmitted orally. The language of the songs is continuously modernized thus endowing it with contemporary relevance.”

On these two days, Tarun Khapa Baul, Kashinath Das Baul, Ananthodas Baul and Ramachandrodas Baul will twang their ektaras to kindle the essence of the Bengali mysticism.

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