The Baul of Bengal

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The Baul of Bengal is a LIVE band based out of Kolkata, West Bengal. Baul is a group of mystic minstrels from the state. They constitute of both a syncretic religious sect and a musical tradition. Bauls are a very heterogeneous group, with many orders, but their group mainly consists of Sufi Muslims and Vaishnava Hindus. They can often be identified by their musical instruments and distinctive clothes. Not much is known of their origin. Lalon Fakir is considered as the most prominent poet-practitioner of the Baul tradition. Baul music had a significant influence on Rabindranath Tagore's poetry and his music. Though Bauls comprises only of a small fraction of the Bengali population, their impact on the culture of Bengal is important.  In 2005, the Baul tradition was included in the list of UNESCO's Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Purna Das Baul Samrat is seen as the successor to the once wandering mendicant musicians, the Bauls of Bengal, an old territory which currently is divided between the People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, and Orissa. Born in 1933 in Birbhum region, West Bengal, India, Purna Das is the son of Nabini Das Kapha Baul and was born in settlement of Ekchakka near Rampurhat in Birbhum. Purna Das's wife, Manju Das Baul, is both a Baul and a vocalist of Indian and Bengali folk songs in other traditions, and also a music-ographer, principally in non-English phrases. Of Purna Das's three sons, Subhendu Bapi Das Baul, is an artist who also works in the Baul culture while concurrently branching out, musically, into global fusion, having lived for many years in France. Dibyendu Das Baul, Purna Das Baul Samrat's son, joined Purna in the Baul Samrat's musical and ritual troupe. Dr Rajendra Prasad, first President of the modern state of India, declared Purna Das as Baul Samrat in 1967. In this position, Purna Das Baul Samrat was awarded the Indian President’s Award by Shri KR Narayan, tenth President of India, in 1999. Purna Das has also appeared in several films, and was especially fêted by Mick Jagger in England and by Bob Dylan who told Purna Das that he would be 'the Baul of America.'