Ghulam Fakhir still remembers the time when he carried dead bodies for civic authorities for Rs 400 a month. But even in the darkest days of poverty, Ghulam — who lives in Gorbhanga, a remote and underdeveloped village in Bengal’s Nadia district — found succour in music. And it was this passion for Baul geeti that caught the eye of a group hoping to revive music forms.

When Banglanatak dot com visited Gorbhanga some years ago, it zeroed in on Ghulam and his brothers — and helped them realise a dream. The brothers were trained and have been performing Baul songs across the world. Today, Ghulam Fakhir earns over Rs 20,000 every month.

But sustainability is not Banglanatak dot com’s sole mission. What it seeks to do is uplift folk music such as Baul gaan. “We have been striving to train 3,200 artists across India, practising six kinds of traditional art forms, including Baul, so that the art forms do not get lost,” says Amitava Bhattacharya, founder of the online group.

It’s not the only one promoting Baul music. Across and outside Bengal, the wandering bard’s song is being given new platforms. In the process, Gorbhanga is emerging as a hub of Baul music. The three-day Baul Fakhiri Utsav — an international festival of Baul music — being held in the village comes to an end today. Bauls are also expected to perform at a Sufi fest in Calcutta in February.

SOUL MUSIC: (From above) Baul singers at a Jalpaiguri event and the Gorbhanga group at Tagore Society, London:Purna Das Baul

Baul singing — once the soul of rural Bengal — is being given a new lease of life. The music form, at its peak when Purna Das Baul shared the stage with singers Bob Dylan and Peter Gabriel decades ago, is being propped up by music lovers. The song of the wandering minstrels — who roamed the countryside of Bengal in their saffron robes, singing spiritual songs with a one-stringed instrument — is being feted in films, by Bangla bands, writers and groups supporting folk music.

Percussionist and music composer Tanmoy Bose has been doing his bit. “Baul geeti in itself was not lost. But better packaging was required to present it to an urban audience,” he says. So Bose brought in other instruments, apart from the traditional ektara and dotara (one-stringer and two-stringer), to rev up Baul geeti in the band Talatantra. “What they present today is neither a remix nor fusion. It is a more structured form of Baul geeti which appeals to urban audiences,” he says. On the other hand, there are some — like Baul veteran Purna Das — who believe that the musical form requires no pepping up. “Neither Bauls nor their traditional songs can ever be erased from the minds and hearts of the people,” says Purna Das, whose music has taken him to 140 countries.

Baul music, adds Parvathy Baul, another well-known singer, keeps evolving, and is therefore a living tradition. She has been taking the music to areas outside Bengal with her husband Ravi Gopalan Nair, who belongs to Kerala. “We have organised Baul concerts in villages in Kerala,” she says.

Writer Mimlu Sen points out that traditionally the audience for Baul singers consisted of rural folks from Bengal. “The audience was deeply religious and often from the poorest of the poor — the Vaishnavas, village troupes of kirtan singers and sadhus as well as ordinary farmers, tailors, tinkers, cops, robbers, hookers and con men,” says Sen, whose 2009 book Baulsphere focused on her journey with her partner of long years, singer Paban Das Baul.

But over the years, the profile of the audience has been changing, with a spate of domestic and international festivals, and with popular Bangla bands taking up Baul tunes. “The younger generation is jaded by the rampant corruption in urban life and is definitely attracted to the Bauls. Listening to Baul songs is therapeutic,” she stresses.

Baul music has been in the forefront of cultural activities for a while now. Director Gautam Ghosh’s 2010 film Moner Manush —based on the life of Lalon Shah and starring Prosenjit — has been critically acclaimed for its treatment of the life of the spiritual singer.

Ghosh says he chose to direct the film because of religious divides in contemporary society. “Baul geeti binds Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and others with one string. Its philosophy has the power to soothe the disturbed and distressed,” he adds.

Bands such as Bhoomi and Bonnie Chakraborty’s Oikyotaan too have been highlighting Baul music. “Oikyotaan means a thousand melodies transforming into a unique song. The idea was to make folk music accessible to a global audience,” says Chakraborty. The founder and lead singer of Bhoomi, Surajit Chatterjee, stresses that the appeal of Baul music is universal. “More often than not, the theme is spiritual; it spreads the message of brotherhood, love for fellow human beings and common folk. Considering the turbulence in our society, these songs soothe our soul,” he says.

It’s not difficult to make Baul geeti match contemporary music, the singers stress. “Keeping with the spirit of Baul music that keeps including the new, our compositions often merge with contemporary music influences,” adds Chatterjee. “The drum, guitar, violin, keyboards and English flutes play along with traditional instruments such as the khamak, ektara, dupki and ghungroo when the instruments gel with the mood of the song.” Clearly, Bauls — who celebrate life — are not going to hang up their ektaras. The voice of the bard is as clear as ever.