CONTEMPORARY BAUL SINGERS

BAPI DAS BAUL

PABAN DAS BAUL

      

PURNA DAS BAUL

Among the modern Baul singers, the names of Purna Das Baul and his son, Bapi Das Baul are prominent. Purna Das Baul is undeniably the ruler of the Baul clan today. Purna Das and Lakshman Das are two blessed sons of Nabani Das whose effort popularized the Baul Tradition quickly and many great Baul singers came up within a short period. Dr. Rajendra Prasad, first President of the modern state of India, acknowledged Purna Das as Baul Samrat in 1967. In this capacity, Purna Das Baul Samrat was awarded the Indian President's Award by Shri K. R. Narayan, tenth President of India, in 1999. Purna Das and his troops extensively performed at many western countries and were compared with many world-famous stars of folk songs; even New York Times described him as "India's Bob Dylan". His son, Bapi Das Baul, moved from Kolkata to Paris in 1993 and is now known for his fusion work with the groups Senses, Baul Bishwa, Zap Mamma, Fun-Da-Mental, Trans Global Underground, State Of Bengal, Studio Pagol and others in the musical scenes of Paris and London. He started singing with his parents and some baul brothers in the formation “Baul Bishwa” which means "the world of Bauls". Bapi is very faithful to his traditions and roots which are also present in his music. He uses traditional instruments on stage. On the other hand, he is always seeking for new things and improvement.  Paban Das Baul, another noted Bengali baul singer and musician is known for pioneering traditional Baul music on the international music scene and for establishing a genre of folk fusion music. 

A Baul is by definition a type of Sanyasi who can’t have any worldly possession; he earns his minimum livelihood by ‘Madhukari’ i.e. begging alms by singing songs. With the trend of commercialization of present generation, Baul tradition is also no exception but highly influenced. Many of the popular Bauls of present days are more a Singer than a Baul, although there may be many Baul having originality but are less known or unknown to us. Here are some contemporary Bauls:

1) Babukishan Das

2) Dibakar Das

3) Parvati Baul

 4) Laxman Das

5)Monomatho Das

6) Gour Khyapa

7) Noni Khyapa

8) Sanaton Das

9) Dhananjoy Khepa

10) Radhashyam Das

11) Doyal Khepa

12) Bhakta Das