HYDERABAD: The moment Ila Maa commenced her concert at the spiritual music festival in Bhubaneswar the audience listened to her with rapt attention. “She looks and sings like Meera Bai”, complimented several connoisseurs.
In a way, Baul singer Ila Maa’s life resembles Meera’s who had faced fierce social stigma for her devotion for Krishna. “For a married woman in a conventional society, it is too difficult to be a Baul singer,” confides Ila Biswas – better known as Ila Maa – one of the few female Baul exponents today. The gifted singer was forced to stop coming on stage for 18 years. Yet, she is back on stage since four years and making waves in music circuits across India and Bangladesh.
“My family laid the foundation for me,” recollects the singer in her early 40s. Born in the non-descript village of Karanjali on the shores of the sea in South Bengal, little Ila was brought up in the rich environment of folk music tradition. “I was deeply influenced by my grandfather Gosain Shri Bramha Pada Sikari whose musical and spiritual journey had taken him from Bengal to Benares. My father, though an agricultural scientist, was a singer-writer-composer who introduced me to Lalon Geeti, Mahajani Pad, Baul, Gajon and other forms of folk music. He was my first guru. Owing to his transferable job, our family moved around quite a bit and it was during this phase that I was exposed to other music forms like Bhojpuri, Bihu, Santhali and Qawwali, apart from learning and performing other forms like Tusu, Bhadu, Jhumar, Bhatiali, Bhawaiya, Chotka, Sari, Agamani and Prabhati”, she adds.
An early marriage at 17 brought her to Nadia, the land of Chaitanya Deb. “It was a blessing in disguise as the all-pervading Vaishnab culture of Nadia enriched my musical and spiritual sensibilities. Here, I fell in love with the Baul songs and singers; especially the Lalon Geeti, the songs of the legendary Lalon Fakir. My childhood dream to be a folk singer turned into a strong desire to be a Baul singer. My association with different Bauls and Fakirs gave me an insight into their lifestyle and philosophy. My desire transformed into the determination to be a Baul”, she reveals.
Her soul-stirring-singing got her offers from the All India Radio and there was public demand for her stage performances.
But, being a family-woman, she was prohibited from giving public performances for the next 18 years! “Female Baul singers were looked down upon. So, I was discouraged. Of course, cheap, filmy and vulgar treatment of this spiritual music tradition in our region was responsible for the resentment. I wished to bring dignity back into the tradition by performing the sacred tradition in public. I also wished to prove that Baul is a spiritual way of life and hence it can be taken up by any family-woman”, she emphasizes.
All her pleas went in vain and she was not allowed to come on stage till her only daughter grew up to stand beside her. “Like me, Ayushi showed a keen interest in Baul culture. As she grew up, she supported me morally and musically and together we started our journey as Baul singers four years ago. We have been the best partners, both in our personal and personal lives,” mentiones the lady who had the courage to go for graduation along with her daughter last year!
The mother-daughter duo have been travelling and performing together across India and Bangladesh regularly for the past four years, winning accolades for their soulful renditions and tasteful presentations.
Legacy lives on Ila Maa (centre) with daughter Ayushi (left) and sister Supriya.
