Lokosaraswati

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2009-11-23T08:43:00.005+05:30

Folk Songs of North-East India©2003
48 R.K.Ghosal Rd. Kolkata 42 India Phone: 2442 1218

Presented By Lokosaraswati led by Kali Dasgupta
Purabi Bhattacharya, Sushmita Sen, Jolly Bagchi, Kali Dasgupta, Biswanath Dutta, Bimal Dey, Bhaskar Roy, Soumik Das
Accompanists: Niranjan Halder (Sarinder), Gaur Pal (Flute), Deviprasad Mondal (Khol)

About Kali Dasgupta

2008-12-07T09:44:00.007+05:30

Kali Dasgupta (1926 - 2005) is among the greatest singers and collectors of Eastern Indian folksongs. While a participant in left movements in the 1940s, he started collecting songs that captured the lives and labours of ordinary people.

In an interview late in 2000 he described his life to Mark Gregory:

I was born in a village, which is now in Bangladesh. In the village festival there is singing, so from my very childhood my ear was tuned to this kind of song....I joined this political movement very young age so I gave up my studies, and became a full time volunteer for the communist movement. In a way that gave me the chance to travel thoughout Bengal and other parts of India also.

I used to work for the trade unions, the sweepers union the tonga union. So during that time I came in contact with so many kinds of singer, folk singer, Tagore singer, all kinds of singers, theatre group singers. And there I realised that they dont sing folk song the way it should be sung. They just made it another variety of song.

My understanding at that time developed, that folk song is not just another variety of song. It's a commentary on the life of rural people, the people who live in rural areas. And in India, if you want to build any sort of cultural movement, these are at least eighty percent of people. That is folk. And all the tribal songs. And in India we have fourteen languages, officially recognised, and hundreds of dialects, knocking the door to be recognised as languages.

I concentrated on this music, and then I found that with the harmonium all the tones become very flat, but folk song has a different quality, this travelling note, in Indian they call it sruti. That note, sruti, you cannot write down, it's less than half a note. But between the half and another half if you take your nail on the string you get so many sounds. So that's what we call travelling note. Slide, glide. All the notes touching. Folk song it uses very much. The harmonium has a fixed note .... I found that this folk instrument is necessary, not the harmonium that the city people use. So I picked up this instrument (a gut stringed Dotara) also Ectara Lauwyia. The gourd, the bamboo slat with one string.

We had at that time The Folklore Institute, and the secretary of the Folklore Institute he wrote me a letter that they were going to publish an anthology asking me to contact Ewan MacColl and get a contribution from him. That's why I tried to find Ewan, so I phoned him at his home in Beckenham, Kent.

He said "come along, you'll eat with us" Ewan's practice is that everybody goes to his house. Ewan was very aware and we had a long discussion about Indian politics and he knew quite a lot of people from India, people I also knew. There he said "You can come to our club"

I didn't have any idea about revival movement or so many folk clubs in England. No idea. So one day I went to the Singers Club. I liked the place, informal, everbody singing there. Actually one day I was enthusiastic and I offerered myself "I want to give you a song" I sang a boatman's song and it was so appreciated that I sang two songs. And after two or three days Peggy telephoned me "Kali you never told us that you are a performer" "I'm not a performer so I didn't feel to tell you anything". Ewan said "So OK come on Saturday we shall be there that day" So that day I had to sing three songs and that day I took the lauwyir (Ektara Lauwyia) gourd, that day I sang three songs. And then they gave me a booking, so that's when I first started - five pounds.

[ play mp3 or ]

Peggy said "Kali you send me your biodata". I didn't send anything so she telephoned me "Look what biodata I can send you? I did some organising for this festival, as a volunteer of the communist movement. I was never a singer". "Oh don't be silly, I'll ask you on the telephone, Where were you born? What did you father used to do?" This way she made out a wonderful write up for "New Faces". I lost that copy, I had one but I lost it. Then, you know in England there are about eighty clubs, then the ball starts rolling. I started getting bookings. And I made so many friends there.

For more about Kali visit his website at http://kalidasgupta.com/

Listen to (or buy) Lokosaraswati CD

2008-12-07T06:15:00.033+05:30

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Notes from the CD

Folk Songs of North-East India
©2003 48 R.K.Ghosal Rd. Kolkata 42 India Phone: 2442 1218

Presented By Lokosaraswati led by Kali Dasgupta

Purabi Bhattacharya (PB), Sushmita Sen (SS), Jolly Bagchi (JB), Kali Dasgupta (KD),
Biswanath Dutta (BD), Bimal Dey (BD), Bhaskar Roy (BR), Soumik Das (SD),
Accompanists: Niranjan Halder (Sarinder), Gaur Pal (Flute), Deviprasad Mondal (Khol)

The Songs (from the collection of Kali Dasgupta)

1. [play mp3 or ] Ogo ma lakshmisaraswafi (Asorbandana: N.Bengal) The singer pays respects to his audience acknowledging both Hindus and Muslims whom he regards as his relatives, in whose lap he sat as a child. He begs goddess Saraswati to sit by him and encourage him.

2. [play mp3 or ] O pakhi rohya ja re (Kamrup, Assam) A song from Middle Assam influenced by the Vaishnava cult. The soul like a bird cannot go far, it will return to its destined place. (KD)

3. [play mp3 or ] Phooloni baritay (Kamrup) A lament. Rohudas, son of the mythical king Hanshchandra, was working in the garden when a snake bit him. He calls for his father, his mother and his grandmother. No one comes to his aid so he says that he is going to heaven. (KD)

4. [play mp3 or ] Moray Molua ( Kamrup: Boatman's song) A song sung by the boatman as he rows to the spot where he will join the race. He asks his pet monkey, Molua, why it is crying. The singer cannot understand the reason as he has given it everything it requires. (KD)

5. [play mp3 or ] Bohol maach (Goalpara, Lower Assam: women's dancing song) A man requests a woman not to stop dancing with her graceful hip movements which are as agile as those of the bohol fish. She should not ask for a sari as the weaver has run away. She should not ask for any ornaments as the goldsmith has died. But she should not stop dancing.

6. [play mp3 or ] Ki chomotkar ghori (Goalpara: women's song) The women express their amazement at watches. Even common people long to possess one but only Sahibs who are very intelligent can buy them. However, if any man can qualify as a lawyer or a judge then he will speak only in English and own a watch. (JB, PB, SS)

7. [play mp3 or ] Tomra na jab (Goalpara: women's song) Women are not able to express their feelings of love openly; instead they address their thoughts to Krishna. Here women are warning one another not to go to the river Jamuna as Krishna will tease them. (JB, PB, SS)

8. [play mp3 or ] Moricher gachei (Goalpara: muslim women's song) A reverse dowry system leads to girls being sold to the highest bidder. Morichmoti is complaining to her relatives that they were only interested in searching for a family that would give them the most gold, jewellery & sarees. No one thought about Morichmoti's happiness. (JB, PB, SS)

9. [play mp3 or ] O tor taka kheiyar mukhot (Jalpaiguri: women's song) A young married woman tells her grandmother that she would like to strike her across the mouth with a broom for with that mouth she negotiated her grand-daughters marriage with an old man. The young bride is addressed as 'Old woman' and she has to smash the betel nut until it is fine enough for her toothless old husband to swallow. (JB, PB, SS)

10. [play mp3 or ] Hatay gamcha (Jalpaiguri: 'konya haranergaan'. There are many other versions of this song from different areas.) Mohipal, the king who ruled the area in the seventeenth century, came down to the river and abducted a nubile young girl who had gone there with her oil and towel to take her bath. The song is the girl's lament. (KD)

11. [play mp3 or ] Railgari-ge (N. Bengal: Jalpaiguri Bhawaiya) A man's love song. Just as a train passes at a set hour daily, his girl comes to meet him at the same time each day. (KD)

12. [play mp3 or ] Noimuddin ko shovatay (Chalanbil, East Bengal: dhua song) Noimuddin expresses his amazement at the power of the British Raj who are measuring the whole of Bengal and writing down their findings for their advantage. Not only is land measured but buildings and possessions are noted down to the last duck and money box. The daughter in-law warns the mother to hide their laying hen. (SD)

13. [play mp3 or ] Amar chittey nishidh (Sylhet: dhamail) A woman is so besotted by love it is as if she has been bitten by a snake. The venom can be sucked out of a snake bite but no one can remove the sting of love. (PB, BD)

14. [play mp3 or ] Ebar noshto koray(Chalanbil, East Bengal, collected in Jalpaiguri, song dating from the 1st World War) Germany has destroyed everything. Rice used to be extremely cheap but now even better-off people are eating uncooked rice grains with water. Kerosene is watered down. The wife must not ask for a new sari for even the cheapest cloth is being sold short. Nothing can be done.The Hindus had better chant, 'Haribol' and the Muslims should call on Allah. (BR and chorus)

15. [play mp3 or ] Ranchi se bhejol cooli (a jhumur song of Chotonagpur, collected from the tea plantation workers of Assam who were brought there as immigrant labourers). The coolies have to cultivate the plantation and cannot rest for an overseer is in each tree. If they cannot pick two leaves with a bud correctly they'll be beaten. They blame the contractor who lured them to Assam. (KD)

16. [play mp3 or ] Bonome sovela (Assam, tea plantation: domkoch) The beauty of the forest is the deer but the deer have been killed by the hunter. The beauty of a river is its fish but the fish have been caught by the angler. The beauty of a household is the budding young maiden but she has been taken away by her relatives. (SD)

17. [play mp3 or ] Chol Mini Assamjabo (Vassar tea plantation: jhumur) The labourers are bewailing their lives under hard taskmasters. The singer says, "Mini, let's go to Assam, the land of green plantations. Back home there is too much misery." In a further quatrain he describes how their dream is shattered and blames Jadhuram, the agent. (BD)

18. [play mp3 or ] Allah ha bob... chandrahargorohya (East Bengal, sari) The victorious team of a boat race is teasing their opponents saying that they bribed their boat with good saris and jewelry but she deceived them and gave her heart to another. (BR and chorus)

mytest

2008-11-26T11:50:00.002+05:30

just a test