Paban Das Baul (born 1961) is a noted

Baul The Baul () are a group of mystic minstrels of mixed elements of Sufism and Vaishnavism from different parts of Bangladesh and the neighboring Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam's Barak Valley and Meghalaya. Bauls constitute bot ...

singer and musician from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, who also plays a ''dubki'', a small

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...

and sometimes an ''

ektara The ''ektara'' (, , , , , ; literally 'one-string', also called ''actara'', ''iktar'', ''ektar'', , ''yaktaro'', ''gopichand'', ''gopichant'', ''golki'' , ''gopijiantra'', ''tun tuna'') is a one-stringed musical instrument used in the traditio ...

'' as an accompaniment. He is known for pioneering traditional Baul music on the international music scene and for establishing a genre of

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

- fusion music.

Early life

Born in Mohammedpur, a small

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal, where his early musical influences were his father, and wandering baul singers.

Career

In 1988, Das Baul started collaborating with Sam Mills, a London-born guitarist who had performed with experimental, avant garde group 23 Skidoo between 1979 and 1982. Their collaboration resulted in the acclaimed album ''Real Sugar'' (1997), a

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

Real World Records Real World Records is a British record label specializing in world music. It was founded in 1989 by English musician Peter Gabriel and original members of WOMAD. A majority of the works released on Real World Records feature music recorded at R ...

release, it marked one of the first fusions of

Bengali music Bengali music () comprises a long tradition of religious and secular song-writing over a period of almost a millennium. Composed with lyrics in the Bengali language, Bengali music spans a wide variety of styles. History The earliest mus ...

and Western pop music. The album features

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluci ...

elements to it and has been compared to the work of artists such as

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

Ananda Shankar Ananda Shankar (11 December 1942 – 26 March 1999) was an Indian sitar player, singer, and composer whose music blended Western and Eastern musical styles. He was married to dancer and choreographer Tanusree Shankar. Life Born in Almora ...

and

The Bombay Royale The Bombay Royale was an 11-piece Australian band fronted by singers Parvyn Kaur Singh and Shourov Bhattacharya and led by Andy Williamson. The band performed original music that blends funk, disco and pop music with the classical and folk music ...

. He has also collaborated with the London-based

State of Bengal Saifullah "Sam" Zaman (17 April 1965 – 19 May 2015), known by the stage name State of Bengal, was a British DJ and music producer of Bangladeshi descent associated with the UK and Asian Underground movement. Early life Zaman was born on 1 ...

and

Susheela Raman Susheela Raman (born 21 July 1973) is a British musician. She was nominated for the 2006 BBC World Music Awards. Her debut album ''Salt Rain'' was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2001. She is known for live performances built on the sacred ...

. In 2005, the Baul tradition was included in the list of "

Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity The Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity was made by the Director-General of UNESCO starting in 2001 to raise awareness of intangible cultural heritage—such traditions, rituals, dance, and knowledge—and ...

" by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

. He also performed at the

Jaipur Literature Festival The Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), often hailed as the "''greatest literary show on Earth''," is a renowned annual cultural and literary festival held in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. Established in 2006 by writers Namita Gokhale and William Dalry ...

and the " Nine Lives" Concert, 2009 in London, of

William Dalrymple William Benedict Hamilton-Dalrymple (born 20 March 1965) is a Delhi-based Scottish people, Scottish historian and art historian, as well as a curator, broadcaster and critic. He spends nine months of each year on his goat farm in India. He i ...

Personal life

He met Mimlu as a concert audience in 1982 in Paris, they later married and lived in Paris for many years. He has taught himself to read, not just Bengali, but Hindi, English and French.

Discography

;Solo albums *'' Inner Knowledge'' (1997) *'' Music of the Honey Gatherers'' (2010) ;Collaboration albums *''

Real Sugar "Real Sugar" is a song by Swedish pop music duo Roxette, released on 18 June 2001 as the second single from their seventh studio album, ''Room Service''. The single was not released in the United Kingdom. Music video The music video for "Real Sug ...

'' (1997, with Sam Mills) *'' Le Chant Des Bauls - Manuche O Rautan'' (2002, with various artists) *'' Tana Tani'' (2004, with

)

Filmography

* '' Nagmoti'' (1983) (as performer at song "Doriyay Ailo Tufan") * ''

Shukno Lanka ''Shukno Lanka'' is a 2010 Bengali-language Indian Drama Film, drama film directed by Gaurabh Pandey, starring Mithun Chakraborty, Debashree Roy and Sabyasachi Chakrabarty. Premiere ''Shukno Lanka'' is the story of a Junior artist living in ...

'' (2010) (as performer at song "Sundori Komola") * ''Hunger & Love: Tobu O Bhalobasha'' (2017) (as composer)

References

External links

* * *
Paban Das Baul
at ''

last.fm Last.fm is a music website founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. Utilizing a music recommender system known as "Audioscrobbler", Last.fm creates a detailed profile of each user's musical preferences by recording the details of the tracks they ...

'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baul, Paban Das Indian male folk singers 1961 births Living people People from Murshidabad district Real World Records artists Bengali singers Bengali musicians Musicians from West Bengal