KALI DASGUPTA
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Notes from the CD
FOLK SONGS OF NORTH-EAST INDIA
©2003 48 R.K.Ghosal Rd. Kolkata 42 India Phone: 2442 1218PRESENTED BY LOKOSARASWATI
led by
KALI DASGUPTAPurabi Bhattacharya (PB) Sushmita Sen (SS) Jolly Bagchi (JB), Kali Dasgupta (KD),
Biswanath Dutta (BD) Bimal Dey (BD) Bhaskar Roy (BR) Soumik Das (SD)
Accompanists: Niranjan Halder (Sarinder) Gaur Pal (Flute) Deviprasad Mondal (Khol)Kali Dasgupta ( b 1926) is among the greatest singers and collectors of the folksongs of Eastern and North-eastern India. While active in the left movement in the 1940's, he started collecting songs that captured the lives and labours of ordinary people. The several hundred songs, some extremely rare, in his collection articulate a wide range of life experiences, including those of rural women, extinct professions, rare musical traditions, and life in Bengal under British rule.
ln 1965 he went to England where a meeting with folklorists, Ewan McColl and Peggy Seeger saw his career as a performer take off. With a reputation in the U.K. and U.S.A. behind him, he returned to India in the 1970s to teach, collect and, more rarely perform. Today he has a large number of students and admirers. The NCPA, Mumbai and Bharat Bhawan, Bhopal have archived parts of his collection. He has produced two disks of songs, an audio-cassette and is the subject of a documentary film.
His website is http://kalidasgupta.com/
The Songs (from the collection of Kali Dasgupta)
1. Ogo ma lakshmisaraswafi (Asorbandana: N.Bengal) The singer pays respects to his audience acknowledging both Hindus and Muslims whom he regards as his relatives, in whose lap he sat as a child. He begs goddess Saraswati to sit by him and encourage him.
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2. O pakhi rohya ja re (Kamrup, Assam) A song from Middle Assam influenced by the Vaishnava cult. The soul like a bird cannot go far, it will return to its destined place. (KD)
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3.Phooloni baritay (Kamrup) A lament. Rohudas, son of the mythical king Hanshchandra, was working in the garden when a snake bit him. He calls for his father, his mother and his grandmother. No one comes to his aid so he says that he is going to heaven. (KD)
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4. Moray Molua ( Kamrup: Boatman's song) A song sung by the boatman as he rows to the spot where he will join the race. He asks his pet monkey, Molua, why it is crying. The singer cannot understand the reason as he has given it everything it requires. (KD)
5. Bohol maach (Goalpara, Lower Assam: women's dancing song) A man requests a woman not to stop dancing with her graceful hip movements which are as agile as those of the bohol fish. She should not ask for a sari as the weaver has run away. She should not ask for any ornaments as the goldsmith has died. But she should not stop dancing.
6. Ki chomotkar ghori (Goalpara: women's song) The women express their amazement at watches. Even common people long to possess one but only Sahibs who are very intelligent can buy them. However, if any man can qualify as a lawyer or a judge then he will speak only in English and own a watch. (JB, PB, SS)
7. Tomra na jab (Goalpara: women's song) Women are not able to express their feelings of love openly; instead they address their thoughts to Krishna. Here women are warning one another not to go to the river Jamuna as Krishna will tease them. (JB, PB, SS)
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8. Moricher gachei (Goalpara: muslim women's song) A reverse dowry system leads to girls being sold to the highest bidder. Morichmoti is complaining to her relatives that they were only interested in searching for a family that would give them the most gold, jewellery & sarees. No one thought about Morichmoti's happiness. (JB, PB, SS)
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9. O tor taka kheiyar mukhot (Jalpaiguri: women's song) A young married woman tells her grandmother that she would like to strike her across the mouth with a broom for with that mouth she negotiated her grand-daughters marriage with an old man. The young bride is addressed as 'Old woman' and she has to smash the betel nut until it is fine enough for her toothless old husband to swallow. (JB, PB, SS)
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10. Hatay gamcha (Jalpaiguri: 'konya haranergaan'. There are many other versions of this song from different areas.) Mohipal, the king who ruled the area in the seventeenth century, came down to the river and abducted a nubile young girl who had gone there with her oil and towel to take her bath. The song is the girl's lament. (KD)
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11. Railgari-ge (N. Bengal: Jalpaiguri Bhawaiya) A man's love song. Just as a train passes at a set hour daily, his girl comes to meet him at the same time each day. (KD)
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12. Noimuddin ko shovatay (Chalanbil, East Bengal: dhua song) Noimuddin expresses his amazement at the power of the British Raj who are measuring the whole of Bengal and writing down their findings for their advantage. Not only is land measured but buildings and possessions are noted down to the last duck and money box. The daughter in-law warns the mother to hide their laying hen. (SD)
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13. Amar chittey nishidh (Sylhet: dhamail) A woman is so besotted by love it is as if she has been bitten by a snake. The venom can be sucked out of a snake bite but no one can remove the sting of love. (PB, BD)
14. Ebar noshto koray(Chalanbil, East Bengal, collected in Jalpaiguri, song dating from the 1st World War) Germany has destroyed everything. Rice used to be extremely cheap but now even better-off people are eating uncooked rice grains with water. Kerosene is watered down. The wife must not ask for a new sari for even the cheapest cloth is being sold short. Nothing can be done.The Hindus had better chant, 'Haribol' and the Muslims should call on Allah. (BR and chorus)
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15. Ranchi se bhejol cooli (a jhumur song of Chotonagpur, collected from the tea plantation workers of Assam who were brought there as immigrant labourers). The coolies have to cultivate the plantation and cannot rest for an overseer is in each tree. If they cannot pick two leaves with a bud correctly they'll be beaten. They blame the contractor who lured them to Assam. (KD)
16. Bonome sovela (Assam, tea plantation: domkoch) The beauty of the forest is the deer but the deer have been killed by the hunter. The beauty of a river is its fish but the fish have been caught by the angler. The beauty of a household is the budding young maiden but she has been taken away by her relatives. (SD)
17. Chol Mini Assamjabo (Vassar tea plantation: jhumur) The labourers are bewailing their lives under hard taskmasters. The singer says, "Mini, let's go to Assam, the land of green plantations. Back home there is too much misery." In a further quatrain he describes how their dream is shattered and blames Jadhuram, the agent. (BD)
18.Allah ha bob... chandrahargorohya (East Bengal, sari) The victorious team of a boat race is teasing their opponents saying that they bribed their boat with good saris and jewelry but she deceived them and gave her heart to another. (BR and chorus)
| Introduction || Collecting || Baul songs || Elephants || Kali in England || NE India |
| Bengal & Assam || Mass Songs || Songs I Sing || More Songs || Buy CDs || Links |
