Basudeb Das from Bolpur town of West Bengal, devote his life to the practice of metaphysical poetry and in search of the eternal entity. He is a singer, practitioner as well as a teacher to many students, and speaks of this way of life and art form.
Basudeb was growing up in a village twenty-five kilometres away from Santiniketan. He started singing folk songs at the age of thirteen and used to visit Santiniketan every now and then. Where he became close to a number of singers, including Shanti Deb Ghosh, Prabhat Mukharjee and Paban Das Baul. Basudeb teaches playing Khamak to Shanti Deb Ghosh. In that time one Khamak cost Rs. 15.
He has learnt the basics of music from his mother. Shwapan Chatterjee was his first mentor. Basudeb took baul lessons from several mentors like Dinanath Das Baul, Naran Das, Baka Sham Das, Biswanath Das for a very long time.
Bauls have a very different lifestyle. They exercise and maintain their own food habits. And they do certain exercises to keep their mind and voice. Their songs convey aesthetic messages. While their body and mind have certain connections which they value and take care of.
Basudeb Das from Bolpur, supports modern Baul songs by using modern instruments to make them more appealing. But for him, Khamak, Ektara, Dotara- these are the primary instruments for Baul songs. He feels no other instruments can beat the essence of folk instruments.
Since 2004 with Tanmoy Bose, he collaborated Kolkata Jazz Festival. Basudeb’s debut solo album Aat Kuthuri Noy Doroja was released by Folkpick In 2009. He performed at Dhaka International Folk Fest Concert, 2017 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He also works on the music score for the Australian film The Waiting City as a featured soloist in 2009. He is married and lives in Birbhum. He has a daughter named Anita and a son Bhola.
Featured image: Dolinman/CC-BY-SA-4.0
