With the winter chill taking a break over the weekend, the annual Baul-Fakir Utsav, held on January 10-11 at the Vivekananda Maidan in Shaktigarh, Jadavpur, offered heart-warming songs of the soil, performed by some of the best-known artistes of the Baul and Fakiri genres. In its fourth year, the festival — which is organised without any corporate backing and still relies on donations and word-of-mouth publicity — featured Nabadwip Pal from Silchar and Baul exponents like Kartik Das, Biswanath Das, Satyananda Das, Kalachand Darbesh and Kanai Baul. Fakiri exponents from Gourbhaga, Nadia, included Khaibur Fakir, Akkas Fakir and Gulam Fakir, along with Nur Alam, the up-and-coming Amirul Fakir and Heera Shah from Burdwan.

Akkas Fakir (left) sings at the fourth Baul-Fakir Utsav at Shaktigarh, Jadavpur

The festival was inaugurated with a felicitation of the legendary Gour Khyapa from Bolpur. Day One saw a stellar performance from Paban Das Baul (in picture left), who rendered a soulful Bhora nadir pichhal ghat and his signature Dil ki doya. Kartik Das Baul — who acted as the secretary for this year’s Utsav — was in his element, singing Ananda bajaare chole jao, followed by a brilliant set from Nityagopal Das. The first evening stretched into the night with a long-drawn set from Satyananda Das. Day Two began with Kalachand Darbesh’s version of Parasmoni, followed by Nabadwip’s rendition of Kalo kokil and Jaarey dekhle juraye pora aankhi. Armaan Fakir was the first to perform among the Fakiri artistes from Gourbhaga, offering a rousing Allah hu allah. Flaunting his magic on the dotara, Gulam Fakir sang Murshider aguney, while Akkas Fakir chose the Lalonpad Ebar jodi na pai charan. The high point of the evening was Amirul Fakir’s haunting rendition of Barir paashey aarshi nagar.

Even with a footfall crossing over 1,000 people on both days, it wasn’t difficult to spot fimmaker Kumar Sahani, British world music/soul diva Susheela Raman with hubby Sam Mills and tabla exponent Shubhen Chatterjee at the festival, soaking up the roots sound as it should be heard.

Pictures by Rashbehari Das and Arka Das