To those who crave for authentic folk music, and not the kind churned out by Bangla rock bands, Ma-dal, a women-only folk group, might sound like manna from heaven. The first-of-its-kind folk band in Bengal has a mission to accomplish: to present to urban audiences rare folk melodies from every nook and corner of Bengal. The group’s performance at Sisir Mancha last week was but a small step towards achieving the goal.

Dr Tapan Roy, the group leader responsible for the mentoring, made the agenda clear right at the beginning ? the group would perform ‘sophisticated’ folk songs (using instruments like keyboard) and it would not present popular baul and bhatiyali tunes, even though the event was kicked off with a medley of such tunes. The group, comprising five members, began with Ki jadu bangla gaane, penned by Kaji Kamal Nasser. Then they went on to sing a variant of Jhumur and a Hemanga Biswas song, Aasmanete diya daki gur gur, which was much appreciated by the audience. The spirited and perfectly synchronised renditions of the marriage songs, generally sung by women, from North and East Bengal and sari gaan, sung by boatmen in Sylhet, bore testimony to the rich variety of their repertoire. Each of the Ma-dal members had a unique style of singing. However, songs in high pitch tended to be shrill. All in all, it was a commendable effort.