Tunes from the East - Baul Music in India

A baul performance in progress

The eastern region of Bengal has long had a history of syncretic music that finds its metaphors in a direct and not ritualistic connection to god. Such spiritual meanings have been articulated by singer-performers across the region for several centuries now. Both the mystic faquirs and the itinerant Bauls are examples of this as their music and allegorical stories transcend the limitations of orthodox and ritualized religion. 

 

Disorder, restlessness and madness are a few of the meanings associated with the word Baul. Such meanings are both prescribed by structures of doctrinal Vaishnavite Hindu religion as well as self-defined by the Baul. It is through an attack against the hierarchical and dominating Vaishnavism [Hindu order with ritual worship of the god Vishnu] that such music and spirituality articulate themselves and hence, often, are seen as deviant and ‘mad’. In many ways, the Bauls have eluded the prescribed order through the content of their music and often their lifestyles. 

 

An artist's rendition of Lalon Phokir

Today, Baul music is quite popular as many artists are experimenting with its forms and content. It is now a genre that permeates the living rooms of many folk enthusiasts across the world. I might not be wrong in saying that the famous nineteenth century Baul, Lalon Phokir who was known in the narrow roads and along the banks of rivers across hundreds of villages in rural Bengal would find it hard to identify with Baul singers of the present day. Today, they regularly record in studios and feature on television and radios. But for all these changes, one must credit the Baul music for maintaining its inherent message and its perceived worldview.

Baul music is distinct in its lyrical content which is avowedly against dominant norms. Largely addressed to a divine presence, Baul songs describe the disjunction between man and spirituality. Declarations of love are a common feature of Baul lyrics, thus persistently disregarding caste hierarchies and religious differences. Influenced by the Bhakti and Sufi movements, Baul music is a unique expression of a quest for spiritual fulfillment through love. 

 

Rabindranath Tagore (right) was one of the first people to translate Baul lyrics to English

Interestingly, it was not until the nineteenth century that the lyrics of Baul songs were actually written down as opposed to the practice of orally transmitting songs. In the early decades of the twentieth century, Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore translated many Baul songs into English and described Bauls in his speeches across Europe as an essential component of rustic Bengal uncorrupted by the influences of colonial modernity.

Just like the vagueness surrounding their origin, the lack of the recorded presence of their music is often regarded as a political choice on the part of Bauls. A fascinating culmination of knowledge passed orally through centuries and sharp political articulations of identities in nineteenth century colonial Bengal, Baul music is a subversive, rustic and peripatetic existence.

A Baul can be spotted in his/her saffron robe with long hair tied in a bun on the top of the head and carrying Gopiyantro or Ektara which is an instrument with one string, sometimes in conjunction with a dugi (kettle drum) tied around their waste. Ghungur, doatara and kortal are other commonly used instruments. Baul music is found in present day Bangladesh as well as the Indian state of West Bengal, displaying a characteristic disregard for man-made boundaries. 

 

There are a few organized festivals that celebrate the poetry and music of Baul, which are held annually in Bengal. Poush Mela, an annual three day festival held in Shantiniketan in the Birbhum district of West Bengal is an event that attracts the largest number of Bauls. It is held at the start of the month of Poush according to Bengali calendar (third week of December) and marks the establishment of the Brahmo religion. Another large annual gathering of Bauls occurs in Joydev Kenduli which is regarded as the birth place of poet Jayadeva and coincides with Makar Sankranti which marks the beginning of winter harvest and is considered auspicious. The last one is the Ghoshpara festival in the 24 Parganas district in March-April which coincides with the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna. 

 

A performance at the Baul Fakir Utsav

Over time, more urban audiences have flocked to annual shows held in Kolkata city such as the Baul Fakir Utsav where Bauls from different districts of Bengal and Bangladesh come to perform. It usually goes on for 48 hours and offers those, who do not seek to travel to rural events, an experience of folk and mystical music right in the heart of urban landscape. The more famous Baul singers of today include Purno Chandra Das , Jotin Das Baul , Sanatan Das Thakur Baul and Parvathi Baul but the list is gradually and progressively increasing.

The black waters of Kerala

trade on the backwaters

Kerala’s geography is nothing like the other coastal stretches of the peninsula it is a part of. The expanse of the ocean is somewhat counter posed with the inlands canals in a manner such that living next to expansive water bodies means different things at different locations across Kerala. The experience of the backwaters that lead on to the ocean along with the occasional lake such as the Ashtamudi Lake within the inner canal networks are very distinct from the experience of the average Malayali person with the Indian Ocean or the Arabian Sea. 

This distinction, which is the root of the uniqueness of the backwaters in the first place, has made its way into the heart of the tourism discussion in South Asia in a massive way in the last fifteen years. Floating in a closeted world of palm trees seems to have caught the fancy of such a vivid imagination that the backwaters of Kerala soon replaced Kerala’s religious sites as the central focus of tourism policy in the state. But it is time to rethink where Kerala stands today. 

A traditional Kettuvalam

The backwaters, or perhaps, ‘black’ waters are facing the crucial problem of overuse and over-exploitation. The traditional kettuvellams, or the rice barges which doubled up as houseboats were the object of attention of a smaller travelling population two decades ago. These houseboats catered to an inquisitive travelling gaze. Such travellers found the beauty of assimilation within the fishing and farming environment of the backwaters. This healthy exchange found expression in the numerous photography and travel books that published that face of Kerala. Visitors to the backwaters treasured its singular qualities and found it to be a place that could be discovered with thrill. 

But two decades down the line, the commodification of the backwaters seems complete. Ever since its potential was calculated in exponentially monetary terms, Allapuzha and Kottayam’s appeal has been significantly transformed. It now caters to the thrifty urban consumer of tourism as opposed to the patient and empathetic travellers’ market. 

A conference houseboat

Kollam’s waterways are populated by numerous massive houseboats, fitted with inverters and air conditioners, refrigerators and a conspicuous lack of dustbins. Specific attractions include “conference houseboats” for corporate houses which are hired for a day or two which simply defies any understanding of the separation of work routines and leisure breaks in our corporatized and ecologically sensitive world. It appears that corporate routines and executive leadership programmes have found appeal not in the traditional glass cubes but in the silent green cocoon of the backwaters. This has led to a complete distortion in the idea of what the backwaters are and were meant to be. 

An identifiable dispassionate outlook towards the ecology of the backwaters is visible in many houseboats, as one sails along past the Ashtamudi Lake. The regular story of junk food wrappers and organic waste ruining the natural scenery is repeating itself everyday in these canals. They are not far from the madding crowd anymore. 

A day in the life of...

It seems that the arrogant crowd has caught on to it and feels no remorse in making it another one of its use-and-throw “destinations”. What does this mean for the inhabitants of the backwaters then? A few conversations with men and women of the fishing villages and the inner hamlets will tell you how tourist-averse the sentiment now is. The visitor is no longer seen with curiosity and hospitable attitudes anymore. What is mechanically dished out is everything the upwardly mobile and well-to-do tourist demands. Travelling has become a mere object of economic exchange in Alappuzha and Kottayam. 

Away from the heavy motors of the luxurious houseboats, the escape is perhaps to be sought in the lesser known sections of the backwaters. Empathy with the natural beauty of any location and the emotional value that it holds for any traveller needs to be rediscovered in the less populated stretches of the backwaters. The blue-green waters beyond Ashtamudi Lake that is off the beaten track between Kollam and Alappuzha, which encircle the coir and paddy villages are perhaps one such option. Or the serene tract behind Munroe Island on the Kallada River, otherwise famous for its annual boat races but much less populated with houseboat traffic during the rest of the season makes for another good option.

A traditional snake boat race

These boat race locations which see huge numbers of visitors and participants during the race days are really the places to be even in non-race season. The beauty of the Pampa River needs rediscovering away from its fame as the site of Uthrattathi boat race, as home to many varieties of flora and a preferred location of bird photography. Aranmula, tucked away from the swarm of houseboats is one such place on the Pampa that would excite any humble visitor to Kerala. It is home to several elegant religious temples and a famous palace. 

For those with short vacation time who want to find the same tranquillity and uniqueness that the ‘mainstream’ of the backwaters have lost, staying away from the Krishnapuram and Ambalapuzha temples in Allapuzha may be a wise option, given that their popularity as religious centres as well as their promotion through the cut-and-dried tourism packages has led to clogged waterways which are simply dangerous to the ecological balance of the region. 

Let the smile not be on the endangered species list

Convenient disposal of organic and inorganic waste by big houseboats has caught some attention with State and local authorities and one hopes, for the sake of the exceptional beauty of Kerala, that it is met with strict regulation soon. Or else, the arrogant demanding tourist will trump once again over an empathetic and inquisitive traveller. It is essential to acknowledge that while Kerala’s backwaters need strict preservation, the same could also be said of the good ethics of travelling.

The markets of Eastern Venice

Fishing in the backwaters. Image courtesy: Tony de Connick

The district of Alappuzha is home to some who have made seminal contributions but are hardly ever remembered or discussed by generations today. Shankar, creator of the famous Shankar’s Weekly and most well known as India’s foremost political cartoonist was born and raised here. Today, many are aware of the Shankar’s Doll Museum in Delhi or the Children’s Book Trust which were his own projects but Alappuzha as his home district is hardly ever discussed in wider public spheres. Take another instance – Vayalar Rama Varma, who wrote the most expansive volumes of modern poetry and lyrics in the Malayalam language and voiced the genuine grievances of the peasantry and the poorer populace in Kerala. Numerous felicitations and honours later, his legacy and the surroundings within which he grew up to challenge the dominant public discourse in Kerala, is hardly a signifier of Alappuzha’s identity. 

On the contrary, it is through the lens of Lord Curzon, infamous for his role in famine relief during the tragic famine at the turn of the twentieth century as well as his role in the partition of Bengal in 1905 that Alappuzha refers to its own identity and significance today. The district’s official website for governance proudly cites Curzon’s description of, what was named Alleppey by the British, as the “Venice of the East”. Many other websites on Alappuzha follow suit and the metaphor of Venetian prosperity perpetuates itself. But the district has a lot more than what this metaphor can capture and nothing short of a visit to its lagoons, waterways and markets can give an accurate description. The district has its own flavours and its own delights for the traveller. Mostly known for its coir-making units and the large fishing villages that have existed for centuries now, this district and its central towns also pack together culinary specialities of prawn as well as a vibrant spice economy. 

The streets of Alappuzha

The markets of Alappuzha are busy spots of trade, exchange and other forms of socialisation. Coir’s importance in the region is evident from the National Coir Training and Designing Centre and the famous Coir Research Institute in the district. A visit to these places can provide valuable information into the lives and livelihoods of the thousands of families dependent on coir production in the district. The district’s backwaters serve as key elements in the transport of the green coconut husk to strategically located coir units and workshops. Spinning coir is often also done domestically by household-based units which then supply it to larger units making finished products. Support prices and other government aid has helped the coir industry grow significantly but at the same time, the recent migration of coir processing units to neighbouring Tamil Nadu could be worrying signs for the Alappuzha economy.

While coir gets its name from the Malayalam word for green coconut husk and duly so, there are specific commodities that markets across Alappuzha are well known for. The spice markets are one such example. Given the massive output of rice from the district, and specifically Kuttanad, every year, the spice production as well as import keeps the culinary balance in good place. Green pepper, Black pepper, cumin, ginger, cardamom and turmeric line the spice markets which have a longstanding significance in the history of global spice trade. Since Chera rule, Allapuzzha is believed and recorded as having been a crucial spice port on the western coast of the Deccan with strong flows of exchange across the Indian Ocean. For any visitor to the district today, the historical significance of its location and its crucial service as a port town should be of great interest. 

Black pepper in Aleppey

In recent times however, the spice market has slowly shifted focus towards the production of spice-based oils and oleoresins. Black pepper oil and ginger essence are two of the most widely available local spice-based oils. Rama Varma, reigning as the Prince of Travancore in the late nineteenth century, was one of the important reasons for the organisation of the spice trade. He firmly believed in the ideas of ‘modernisation’ of the original head of the Travancore kingdom, Marthanda Varma. He made financial and commercial organisation crucial to the spice trade and established legal norms to the functioning of the spice market which helped in sustaining the strength of the spice economy as a whole. Culinary practices with seafood and the corollary market for prawns and shrimps also find growing space from the end of the nineteenth century.

Other specific economic units include the growing umbrella manufacturing units with the brands John’s and Joji’s becoming runaway successes in the whole southern belt for producing strong and sturdy affordable umbrellas that have made Alappuzha a big export hub for the commodity. Umbrellas are a key part of the average Malayali person’s attire given the tropical weather and the frequent changes between hot and rainy weather.

Of coconuts and backwaters in Aleppey

All these markets and their internal economies are connected through the canals and rivers of the district which provide the visitor to Kerala with a unique co-dependent mash of the ‘natural’ linkages and the socially created ones. But sadly, noticeable natural phenomena in the backwaters are also an important cause for concern. Massive growth of water hyacinths along many canals indicates the gradual stagnation of the water in the canals, the reasons for which are yet to be identified. Such stagnated water could potentially be very harmful for the rural populace living around the canals as the dangers of water borne diseases like cholera would increase. Interestingly however, the stalk of the stronger Hyacinths found in Thailand are used by the local crafts industry for production of portable furniture and this is still one other creative economic opportunity yet to be explored in those incredibly unique backwaters of Alappuzha.