The brotherhood of man

Artist Probir Gupta is a connoisseur of Baul music, having travelled with them for 30 years.

Artist Probir Gupta is on a roll: famous British art collector Charles Saatchi at the end of last year brought seven of his works. But Gupta wears his success lightly.

His exterior persona "" complete with faded jeans, salt-and-pepper hair that seems to be awry by design, and a little jewellery "" indicates a struggling artist rather than someone on the cusp of international fame.

Gupta's passion for art is only matched by his passion for music. "Music is a requirement, not a hobby. But my work is not an illustration of music." Within music, Gupta's passion has been Baul music.

He recounts his first encounter with the Bauls and how that in many ways changed his life. "When I was in class X, I was allowed to travel alone for the first time and this is when I went to Santiniketan for the Vasant Utsav. And that is where I met the Bauls for the first time and I was bowled over."

It was love at first sight for Gupta and after that he lost no time in taking up his passion for Baul music: in 1976, he travelled for more than a fortnight with the Bauls in West Bengal.

"The lyrics of Baul music are very symbolic," he says. "One sentence or word can have many different meanings. The spine of their music is about humanity. Their philosophy is about the brotherhood of man. That is what attracted me so much to their music."

Bauls are primarily Vaishnavas, and Jaidev the poet is considered to be their main guru. Despite the renown in which their music is held, the Bauls do not see themselves as musicians.

They travel throughout the year, singing door-to-door and in buses and trains. According to Gupta, since they record what they see, they are chroniclers of crucial contemporary literature.

Says Gupta, describing the Baul lifestyle, "They are absolute Bohemians and they don't draw any boundaries or lines in their lives." I ask Gupta if one is born a Baul or is one initiated into it and he answers by saying, "I am a Baul now," and points to a mala that he is wearing. It is made of tulsi seeds and Gupta says that all Bauls wear such a mala at all times.

Gupta also is closely connected with Sufi music. He says, "Sufism is not rigid at all. I really appreciate qawwalis." Gupta often has Bauls staying with him in Delhi, and has hosted music evenings where Bauls and Sufi qawwals have both sung. As such evenings come to a close, he says, they even sing together, producing an absolutely scintillating harmony of sound and thought.

Says Gupta, "Music that I like is complimentary to my ideology." Gupta's politics is seen through the prism of human rights and both Sufi music and Baul music articulate that ideology beautifully.

Gupta's politics was shaped at an early age when he, along with his mother and siblings, shifted to his mother's parents' house after his father passed away. Soon after, his grandparents' large house also became home to about 20 people who came in as refugees from Bangladesh in 1971.

These refugees, who stayed on for almost three and a half months, were creative people and every evening the house would be more like a cultural centre with recitations and so on going on.

Baul and Sufi music apart, on a more broader plane, Gupta says music is a reflection of the times in which it is created. Different ragas at different points of time showcase the way we live at that moment. Giving the example of Raga Malhar Gupta says, "You see the way Malhar is sung today and the way it was 50 years ago. Malhar today is very violent. The times that we live in are more complicated."

Music, says Gupta, heals you. He continues, "The choice of music that you listen to can re-energise you. The possibilities are incredible." At this moment it seems appropriate to ask Gupta if he can sing. He laughs uproariously and then says, "I have learnt a little bit of singing. If I sing, I won't be tuneless."

Through his long association with the Bauls, Gupta has developed an insight into this group, of whom today very few are left. Gupta estimates that there are only about a couple of thousand. With interest in Baul music growing (there is a huge demand abroad as well), Gupta could well archive Baul history and music for posterity.