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BANGLADISH 2
I visited Bangladesh in early 2019. |
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The best place in Dhaka for cultural performances is Shilpakala Academy, the national academy of fine arts and the performing arts.*
The distinctive folk music of the Bauls (mystic minstrels) and the closely related Fakirs (mendicant musicians) can be heard across Begal, as well as in some films about the region.*
The poet Rabindranath Tagore was also a prolific songwriter, and undoubtedly influenced much of the Bengali music that's composed today.*
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Western influence helped spawn the new phenomenon of Bangla Bands, the generic name give to any band that play modern music -- ranging from pop and rock to grunge and heavy metal -- performed in Bengali.*
Bauls most commonly play the one-stringed plucked instrument know as the ektara, accompanied by other musicians playing lutes, flutes, the four-stringed dotara and cymbals.*
His anthology of songs known as Rabindra Sangeet (notations for which were set by Tagore himself) are popularly performed by artistes in both Bangals.*
Bauls and Fakirs are mystic minstrels who constitute both a quasi-religious sect and a strong musical tradition in Bengal.*
Behind the tomb complex (Shrine of Lalon Shah) is a covered area where musicians sometimes play and sing Lalon Shah's songs, while pilgrims burst into dance.*
The Jumma are facing what they see as a struggle for survival. They claim that their way of life is being increasingly threatened by the government of Bangladesh.
In 1971, some members of the new Bangladeshi government were angry that some Jumma had sided with West Pakistan. However, some fought on the other side with the Bangladeshi freedom fighters. As a result, the Jumma claim that the newly independent government put in place a policy that saw the arrival of the Bangladesh military, the influx of tens of thousands of settlers, and displacement of many Jumma. Successive governments have moved Bengali settlers into the region, forcing the Jumma out of their homes, making them a minority in their own land. |
Over the past two decades, this contemporary musical tradition has evolved considerably, and present-day bands often attract stadium-sized crowds at sell-out concerts, as well as getting plenty of airplay on local FM stations.*
You can sit in at plenty of folk music renditions if you travel to Kushtia, the resting place of the legendary Fakir musician Lalon Shah, and the location of a biannual folk-music festival.*
Following similar principles to Sufism, their music celebrates celestial love, but does so in very earthy terms rather than spiritual ones, and Baul ideology is thus said to transcend religion.*
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*These captions are from Bangladesh - a Lonely Planet guide.