https://soundcloud.com/neelav-bose/jhumur-blues
Those were the days I thought would never end. Round neck tee, blue ( only blue) tattered Levi denim, long hair and a head full of idealism... friends, more friends, new friends... Nandan, New Empire, Globe, Canteen, cheap burnt tea, Calcutta book fair, Mohiner Ghoraguli, Bengali Rock, Neruda, reverse snobbery, love, Central metro station, College square, Coffee house....
Its during this neo - semi - pseudo - intellectual vagabond days that I kind of discovered baul music. Calcutta at that time was also experimenting with Folk and Rock and their fusion. Somehow it all made a lot of sense. Every April there used to be a music fair in the Nandan square featuring music of every genre. The year was probably 1999 when in one of the shows I saw Kartik das baul and heard him perform this song. My friend Sourav was there too. We saw a lot of strange things and didn't know how to react.. we saw Sadhan Das Boiragi, a very senior baul having Coco Cola in a coconut vessel ( mala), we saw a Japanese baul etc.. I was mesmerised with the rawness and purity of the performances of these baul. Anyway coming back to Kartik das Baul, after his performance we caught him backstage and pleaded with him to share the lyrics of this particular Jhumur song ( form of folk song and dance). No sooner did we plead that he started rattling off the lyrics and we somehow managed to note down two stanzas. Incidentally I lost the note soon after, but the lyrics were so heart wrenching and haunting and mesmerising that they were kind of etched in my memory for life. Later on I rearranged the song and set it to a madol ( traditional Santal drum) rhythm... The blues intro came much later.
This song continues to haunt me today as it did back then and is one of my favourite songs. Incidentally this song was the last song I recorded before my heart literally skipped a beat :)
Those were the days I thought would never end. Round neck tee, blue ( only blue) tattered Levi denim, long hair and a head full of idealism... friends, more friends, new friends... Nandan, New Empire, Globe, Canteen, cheap burnt tea, Calcutta book fair, Mohiner Ghoraguli, Bengali Rock, Neruda, reverse snobbery, love, Central metro station, College square, Coffee house....
Its during this neo - semi - pseudo - intellectual vagabond days that I kind of discovered baul music. Calcutta at that time was also experimenting with Folk and Rock and their fusion. Somehow it all made a lot of sense. Every April there used to be a music fair in the Nandan square featuring music of every genre. The year was probably 1999 when in one of the shows I saw Kartik das baul and heard him perform this song. My friend Sourav was there too. We saw a lot of strange things and didn't know how to react.. we saw Sadhan Das Boiragi, a very senior baul having Coco Cola in a coconut vessel ( mala), we saw a Japanese baul etc.. I was mesmerised with the rawness and purity of the performances of these baul. Anyway coming back to Kartik das Baul, after his performance we caught him backstage and pleaded with him to share the lyrics of this particular Jhumur song ( form of folk song and dance). No sooner did we plead that he started rattling off the lyrics and we somehow managed to note down two stanzas. Incidentally I lost the note soon after, but the lyrics were so heart wrenching and haunting and mesmerising that they were kind of etched in my memory for life. Later on I rearranged the song and set it to a madol ( traditional Santal drum) rhythm... The blues intro came much later.
This song continues to haunt me today as it did back then and is one of my favourite songs. Incidentally this song was the last song I recorded before my heart literally skipped a beat :)
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