Abu Bakkar, a septuagenarian baul from Meherpur, has pursued the wandering life of a Lalon devotee for over 50 years now. Never has he faced any harassment, that is until early August, when he had to ...

Bauls in the western part of the country continue to live in constant threat of attacks and humiliation as the attackers enjoy complete impunity. To protect themselves, the victims had to settle with ...

Bauls, Fakirs, and Sadhus have been an essential element in artistic Bengali culture. Their music carrying the words of celestial love and the love of nature. But time and time again this marginalized ...

At first glance, anyone encountering a Baul may assume they are merely wandering minstrels, ascetics devoted to song, detached from society even while living within it. Music appears to be their sole ...

The Bauls of Bangladesh were following their spiritual tradition much before the advent of Islam,writes Sumit Paul. The Bauls subscribe to a philosophy that doesn't acknowledge caste, creed and other ...

Long-entrenched and still pervasive in Indian society, the oppressive caste system has even moved from its Hindu moorings to infect other faiths entering or originating in the subcontinent and defied ...

Early this month, Mohammed Fakir and his guests were enjoying an annual conference when they were accosted by religious zealots, conceited enough to arrogate to themselves a moral ascendancy. The ...

It's a centuries-old culture - Indian minstrels who blend spirituality, marijuana and a search for the human body's most intimate secrets. And, it is being re-discovered by a new generation of ...

An exasperated British rock musician once remarked, after stewing in his own juice at a Baul festival in the village of Boral, now a part of the city of Kolkata: “There are none so sedentary as the ...

In the first-ever initiative for the 'bauls' of rural Bengal, the folk baladeers now come under medical insurance. To honour and support the cause of 'bauls', whose stringed 'ektara' is unique ...

Bob Dylan would often visit a studio at Woodstock, New York, where the Baul musicians Purna Das, his brother Luxman and their entourage would hang out in 1967-68. Purna Das, now 83, remembers the ...

Every Saturday, Moeinuk Sengupta updates you on what’s rocking the city. This week he talks about the Bangla baul band Kolkata. the black iron staircase leads up to the penthouse. the small terrace is ...