KALI DASGUPTA

| Introduction || Collecting || Baul songs || Elephants || Kali in England || NE India |

| Bengal & Assam || Mass Songs || Songs I Sing || More Songs || Buy CDs || Links |

THE SONGS I SING

Notes from the CD

Kali Dasgupta (1926-2005) is amongst the greatest singers and collectors of the folksongs of Eastern and North-eastern India. He was actively involved in politics during the independence movement and up to 1965. His interest in folk music grew alongside his political involvement for such songs reveal the socio-economic condition of the people: the oppression, both feudal and political, against which they struggle.

In 1965 Kali moved to England where through a meeting with Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger he began to perform regularly in folk clubs and elsewhere both in England and the U.S. He met many singers who shared his perspective. Among them was Charles Parker, who is well known for the Radio Ballads he made with Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl. These broadcasts brought the thoughts and songs of the workers (e.g. miners, fishermen) to a wide audience. In America, Barbara Dane, through her record company, Paradon, was recording protest songs from around the world. Together they arranged for Kali to be interviewed by Charles at the BBC studio, Birmingham. This CD is taken from that interview made in 1970.

The Interview with Songs

| Introduction || Collecting || Baul songs || Elephants || Kali in England || NE India |

| Bengal & Assam || Mass Songs || Songs I Sing || More Songs || Buy CDs || Links |