Tarak Khyapa was a renowned Baul artist and a Guru. Born in Joydev Kenduli of Birbhum, Tarak Khyapa’s vibrant voice and exuberant dance made people envious. His competency towards Dotara, Khol, Tabla and Gabgubi made him one of the most talented Baul artists.

His primary introduction to Baul was obtained from his father Kanailal. From a very young age he bagan his official training under Sudhirbaba of famous Tamaltala Ashram in Joydev. He also got the guidance of Pagol Ramdash, a well known Baul exponent and lyricist.  Tarak Khyapa had an unlimited stock of songs. His presentation attracted his audience. Understanding each and every bit of the songs he united his soul and body and penetrated the depths of Baul music. He presented the pieces of Lalon Fakir, Haure Gnosai and Nilkantha.

To spread the originality of Baul music and Baul Philosophy he established ‘Baul-Kutir-Sebasram’ where he passed on his skills of singing and Khamak playing to his students and disciples. As a Guru he was very sensitive and friendly towards his students.
At a very minimal time Tarak Khyapa succeeded in establishing himself as a Baul artist of great potential. He traveled beyond his so called barriers to Denmark and South Korea.On 10th October 2017, at the age of 57 he passed away leaving his Baul tradition and his two sons Sadhu and Kangal who are traveler of the same path; they have performed in many places in the country and abroad.

In 2017, Tarak Khyapa recorded an album named Tarak Khyapa (album link) consisting of 10 songs along with his two sons Sadhu and Kangal.

In the world of music Gurus are of two types. One is a teacher who transfers his skills, knowledge and determination to his students. Another is a Guru who devotes his life for a particular art form and becomes a legend and a patron. Salabat Mahato is notable for both.

The revival of the traditional Jhumur song in the regions of Bengal, Bihar Jharkhand and Orissa was through the skill of Salabat Mahato. Salabat Mahato was the pioneer to save the originality of Jhumur in this era of distortion. His inspirational voice and skill has influenced many young artists who are coming in this field.

No one can ever disagree about the contributions of Salabat Mahato. He was one of the eminent Jhumur personas.

Salabat Mahato was born in a farmer family in Latpada village under Barabajar Police station.  He was a lyricist, composer and singer. According to the researches done on Jhumur songs the time span where Salabat Mahato belongs is the Modern Era. Salabat has composed variety of songs. He has composed- “Chander gayete kalanka roeche/ tobu loke chand here go/ premer majhete biraha roeche/ tobu kano prem kore go”. Parallel to this he has written- “Asha jawa bhaber khela/ arai diner tore mela he/ keu baa bar kore ninde/ keu ba ador kore he/ jonom dio baul er ghore”.

Salabat Mahato’s range was beyond any barriers. Apart from Jhumur he was also capable of absorbing the Baul philosophy. For his immense contribution in Folk music the Government of West Bengal awarded him with Abbasuddin and Lalon award. A short film was also made on Salabat. Leaving behind his works he passed away on 9^th January 2017.

In 2010, Salabat Mahato, Mihirlal Singh Deo and Amulya Kumar recorded an album named Darbari Jhumur which was published by BNC Musical.

After Gambhir Singh Murah the next legendary chau persona was Nepal Mahato. Besides being an Chau artist he was also a Guru. He played a massive role in spreading Chau worldwide. He was born in the Abadan village of  Purulia on 17th June 1954. Nagendra Mahato and Tushtha Mahato were his parents. He showed his competency in all the three traditional Chau forms;  Purulia, Mayurbhanj and Seraikella.

His initial exposure to Chau Dance was at a very early age when he was in the sixth standard in Shikshashatra High school. His first guru was Anil Mahato. He had a vast range of interest ranging from Jhumur song, Nachni Dance and cock fighting. He loved to play football but his love for Chau was beyond everything else which led him to his destiny. Nepal Mahato passed his school final examination in 1993.
During his academic years in Shikshashatra his cultural talents became exposed in front of the eyes of Secretary Ajit Mitra and Dulal Chowdhury. Under the patronage of Ajit Mitra he began to perform Chau dance in different programs. He built his troupe in 1975. And in 1980 his troupe won the competition organised by Academy of Folklore. After his performance in ICCR Nepal Mahato’s fame spread the boundaries of nationality.

His First international exposure was to London in 1982. After Gambhir Singh Murah Nepal Mahato was the second person to internationally spread the traditional dance form of Chau. His main themes were against the distortion of the dance form. For this he received the Padmashree in 1983.Apart from London he performed in Sweden, Canada, France and Switzerland. Nobody can deny his contribution in  the world of Chau. In 1994 he became the supervisor of  Dr. Ambedkar Folk Art Fellowship. To keep the art form alive and carry forward his lineage Nepal Mahato established a Chau training centre in 1982 in his village where he trained more than 500 artists. In 16th March 2019 Nepal Mahato passed away in a hospital in Kattak at the age of 66 leaving his art to flourish through his students.

Narayan Adhikary was an internationally famous Baul singer.

He performed across 19 countries including France, Switzerland, Italy, England, Belgium and Japan. He took an important role to spread  Baul music among youth. He roamed around the world with his huge collection of songs. Narayan Adhikary was born in a village of Bangladesh, today’s East Pakistan. A dotara, gifted by his Guru, was his only belonging when he came to Bengal at the age of 10.

Since childhood Narayan Adhikary was guided by different Gurus. His primary musical education was under his father Surdas Adhikary. Later on he took lessons from Biswanath Das, Haradahan Das, Sanatan Das and Brindaban Das Adhikary. He was a casket of songs of Lalon, Yadbindyu, Kubir Gonsai, Duddu Shah and Panju Shah. With his excellent voice and collection of songs he became a Guru. He had disciples in both the Bengals. Bakul Pal was his last student whom he taught Dotara with care and dedication.  She is now an established artist.He became a symbol of assimilation through his lifestyle and music.

He resided in a village near Panagarh. In 2018 on 3rd January at the age of 84 he passed away.

To listen to his songs on your phone download the app Folks of Bengal from Google Playstore

Mihirlal Singh Deo was one of the pioneers who made Jhumur flourish outside Purulia. In 1939 he was born in a Zamindar family in Rajnawagarh under Kenda police station in Purulia. His uncle Hariprasad Singh Deo was a famous singer. Classical music was his family tradition. After completing his Graduation and Post graduation in music with distinction Mihirlal took up jhumur against the will of his family. He didn’t forget to remember his roots and Folk heritage. He was responsible for flourishing Jhumur amongst the young people.

In the initial years of his life Mihirlal used to practice Classical music. After that he started to be trainned from a renowned Jhumur artist Ramkrishna Ganguly. Mihirlal has played an important role in re-introducing Jhumur songs which was in the verge of extinction. People said that Jhumur song needs accompaniment of a Dancer, otherwise it won’t attract people. Mihirlal proved them wrong and made a prominent place in the world of Jhumur without dance.

The songs of Mihirlal conveyed not only the romance between Radha and Krishna or Dehatattwa but also practicalities of life. His few songs are based on environmental awareness. ‘Jal batash mati kono na rohilo khati/ Poribeshe dhorilo bhangon/ Bhumisantan tomrai paro prakriti ke roksha koro/ Mihir bole sobai mile make sajao moner-i-moton.’ Beside this he also wrote a song on the destruction done by elephants in the tribal village-‘Kutum alya hatir Gushti/ Kore dilo Anasrishti, saksobji sob I chhilo snurye’.

Mihirlal’s talents spread through a great region and he was praised by Pandit Ravi Shankar for his immense contribution to Jhumur. In 2018, on 18th January Mihirlal Singh Deo passed away.

In 2010, Mihirlal Singh Deo along with Salabat Mahato and Amulya Kumar recorded an album named Darbari Jhumur, published by BNC Musical.

Confident strokes, bold lines and bright colors were the features of her work. Karuna had the inborn quality to become a Guru. Apart from West Bengal she participated in different workshops in Mumbai,

Delhi and Gujrat. Among her two sons, Rahim Chitrakar has earned national and international fame.

Karuna Chitrakar passed away on 20th April in 2018.

It was very difficult to identify Jiten Rabidas at the time of his performance as a woman. He was the renowned Domni artist in Malda. Domni is a type of folk theatre of north west part of Malda, adjacent to Bihar. It is a famous art form of  Ratua, Manikchok, Harishchandrapur block of Malda. The Domni folk theatre rises mainly from the idea of Santhal and Munda Devi Behula’s incognito as Dom Rani. No texts are present in Domni plays. Here the male actors perform as the female characters.

The plays are performed in ‘Khottai’ language which is the mixture of Bengali, Bhojpuri, Maithili and Urdu. He had the talents for both singing and dancing. Folk Art specialist Subodh Chowdhury was the mentor of Jiten Rabidas. He performed in Kolkata, Malda, Coochbehar and many other places. Jiten Rabidas had his association with the famous Domni group ‘Loukik Srijani’ of  Malda. He struggled a lot with poverty to carry on his art of acting. At one point of  his life this talented artist even sold lottery tickets for existence.
Jiten Rabidas was very close to famous folk theorist Sudhi Pradhan. Recently on 10th February 2019 he passed away.

Songs and dialogues are the soul of Gombhira. The lyricists are responsible for bringing Gombhira to life. Dokori Chowdhury carried on the legacy of Jogendra Chowdhury (Mator) and Debnath Ray (Habla) with his extensive skills of being a singer and lyrisict. With humility Dokori Chowdhury dedicated his life to Gombhira.

Dokori Chowdhury was the resident of Bnashkori village of Englishbazar in Malda. In 1965 he joined the group of Jogendranath Chowdhury with Debnath Roy and became the lyricist of that new formed group. He was famous throughout the state. For taking Gombhira to a complete new level he was awarded with the Lalon Purashkar. The art form was his medium of protest against the society.

    Ki khabite bohin pakka aam

    Dhuya rakh Suyader chopakhan

    Hamre Maldor lok gilchiye dhok

    Bish taka killo aamer dam

Dokori Chowdhury made Gambhira contemporary with the changing time to keep the essence of Gambhira alive in the modern days. Age was never a barrier to curb down his enthusiasm for any new venture. In 2005 Dokori Chowdhury joined the workshop organized by Banglanatak dot com in EZCC.

He conveyed his feedbacks of this workshop through a unique song

Dibe ar nibe milibe melabe

Etai moder asha

Tai karmashalae asha

Shilpi bachle, shilpo bachbe

Bhalobashar bhasa

Etai pratyasha

Dokori Chowdhury passed away in 2009 on 2^nd February .

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Biren Das Baul was one of the major Baul performers and Guru of the recent times. He had extraordinary knowledge about Baul philosophy. For this he got extra importance. He was born in 1940 at Jhinaidaha of Bangladesh. Panju Shah and Bijay Sarkar were also of the same land. Jhinaidaha has fame for being a centre of Baul-Fakir tradition. Safdar Shah a direct disciple of Lalon was the first teacher of  Biren Das. Later on he took lessons from Khodabaksh Shah, Mokshed Ali Shah, Karim Shah and  Behal Shah. During the Bangladesh war in 1971 Biren Das left Bangladesh and settled to Hariharpara of Murshidabad in Bengal.

During his stay in Hariharpara his name spread fast because of his songs and religious interpretations of Vaishnavism and Islam. Later on he came to Chilekhali of  Tehatta  Daspara in Nadia. He always used to explain the importance and inner meaning of his songs to his audience which made him different and respectable. For having many gurus in the different phases of life he had an unending stock of songs; the perfect combination of voice and knowledge is observed in few people only. Apart from these he was a true teacher and guru. In 9^th January 2019 he passed away in his Tehatta house in Nadia. The style he obtained from the direct disciples of  Lalon makes him irreplaceable in the world of Baul.

In the year 2010 Biren Das recorded two albums each having 37 songs, named Biren Das Baul and Biren Das Vol 2, published by BNC musical.

To listen to his songs on your phone download the Folks of Bengal app from Google Playstore.

Gombhira is a folk play performed in North Bengal during the months of Chaitra centering the festival of ‘Gajan’. The essential parts of Gombhira play include songs and sarcastic dialogues. Bimal Gupta was a prominent exponent of  Bengals folk play, Gombhira.

The play is all about launching complain to an imaginary character called ‘Nana’ who represents Shiva. The appearance of  Bimal Gupta was highly deceptive; nobody can ever understand that he had such acting skills. All the social satires found life through the performance of Bimal Gupta.

His instant dialogues made the audience laugh out loud. He was the person who spread Gombhira among the young generation. He also performed outside West Bengal.

After the death of  Dokori Chowdhury, Bimal Gupta took the responsibility of keeping the folk tradition alive.

On 9th January 2011, Bimal Gupta passed away.