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Biren Das is a veritable repository of Baul-Fakiri tattwa songs and one of the most respected Baul veterans alive today. He was born in the 1940s in Jhinaidaha, Bangladesh - a region well-known for its Baul-Fakiri tradition and the home of many luminaries from Panju Shah to Bijoy Sarkar. He received his musical tutelage under Khodabaksh Shah and Sabdar Shah in Lalon`s tradition. Affected by the violence and political turmoil of `71 during Bangladesh’s struggle for independence, Biren Das later came across the border and stayed for a long time in Hariharpara, Murshidabad and became well-known as a palla singer who was equally comfortable in Vaishnav and Islamic discourse. Now he lives in Chilekhali-Daspara in Tehatta, Nadia. In this recording made in the Ghurni Lalon Mela near Krishnanagar in 2012, Biren Das sings one of his favourite Lalon songs and takes the opportunity to digress before the bhonita and discuss Lalon`s lifestory as it has come down to him and the inconsequentiality of much of the debate that surrounds Lalon`s origins.
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Location
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Ghurni, Krishnanagar, Nadia, West Bengal
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Source
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Shohoj Gaan & Soumik Datta (notes)
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Subject
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Baul-Fakir, Folk Music, Nadia, West Bengal
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