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Songs and dialogues are the soul of Gombhira. The lyricists are responsible for bringing Gombhira to life. Dokori Chowdhury carried on the legacy of Jogendra Chowdhury (Mator) and Debnath Ray (Habla) with his extensive skills of being a singer and lyrisict. With humility Dokori Chowdhury dedicated his life to Gombhira. Dokori Chowdhury was the resident of Bnashkori village of Englishbazar in Malda. In 1965 he joined the group of Jogendranath Chowdhury with Debnath Roy and became the lyricist of that new formed group. He was famous throughout the state. For taking Gombhira to a complete new level he was awarded with the Lalon Purashkar. The art form was his medium of protest against the society. Ki khabite bohin pakka aam Dhuya rakh Suyader chopakhan Hamre Maldor lok gilchiye dhok Bish taka killo aamer dam Dokori Chowdhury made Gombhira contemporary with the changing time to keep the essence of Gombhira alive in the modern days. Age was never a barrier to curb down h...

Karuna Chitrakar was a competent Scroll Painter and singer. She was born in Pashkura of Paschim Medinipur. She married Ajay Chitrakar and came to Naya, the village of the Patuas in Pingla.  Confident strokes, bold lines and bright colors were the features of her work. Karuna had the inborn quality to become a Guru. Apart from West Bengal she participated in different workshops in Mumbai, Delhi and Gujrat. Among her two sons, Rahim Chitrakar has earned national and international fame,  Mamin Chitrakar is also a scroll painter. Karuna Chitrakar passed away on 20th April in 2018.

After Gambhir Singh Murah the next legendary chau persona was Nepal Mahato . Besides being an Chau artist he was also a Guru. He played a massive role in spreading Chau worldwide. He was born in the Abadan village of   Purulia on 17th June 1954. Nagendra Mahato and Tushtha Mahato were his parents. He showed his competency in all the three traditional Chau forms;   Purulia, Mayurbhanj and Seraikella. His initial exposure to Chau Dance was at a very early age when he was in the sixth standard in Shikshashatra High school. His first guru was Anil Mahato. He had a vast range of interest ranging from Jhumur song, Nachni Dance and cock fighting. He loved to play football but his love for Chau was beyond everything else which led him to his destiny. Nepal Mahato passed his school final examination in 1993. During his academic years in Shikshashatra his cultural talents became exposed in front of the eyes of Secretary Ajit Mitra and Dulal Chowdhury. Under the patronage of...

It was very difficult to identify Jiten Rabidas at the time of his performance as a woman. He was the renowned Domni artist in Malda. Domni is a type of folk theatre of north west part of Malda, adjacent to Bihar. It is a famous art form of  Ratua, Manikchok, Harishchandrapur block of Malda. The Domni folk theatre rises mainly from the idea of Santhal and Munda Devi Behula’s incognito as Dom Rani. No texts are present in Domni plays. Here the male actors perform as the female characters.  The plays are performed in ‘Khottai’ language which is the mixture of Bengali, Bhojpuri, Maithili and Urdu. He had the talents for both singing and dancing. Folk Art specialist Subodh Chowdhury was the mentor of Jiten Rabidas. He performed in Kolkata, Malda, Coochbehar and many other places. Jiten Rabidas had his association with the famous Domni group ‘Loukik Srijani’ of   Malda. He struggled a lot with poverty to carry on his art of acting. At one point of   his life t...

Gombhira is a folk play performed in North Bengal during the months of Chaitra centering the festival of ‘Gajan’. The essential parts of Gombhira play include songs and sarcastic dialogues. Bimal Gupta was a prominent exponent of   Bengals folk play, Gombhira. The play is all about launching complain to an imaginary character called ‘Nana’ who represents Shiva. The appearance of   Bimal Gupta was highly deceptive; nobody can ever understand that he had such acting skills. All the social satires found life through the performance of Bimal Gupta. His instant dialogues made the audience laugh out loud. He was the person who spread Gombhira among the young generation. He also performed outside West Bengal.  After the death of  Dokori Chowdhury, Bimal Gupta took the responsibility of keeping the folk tradition alive. On 9th January 2011, Bimal Gupta passed away .

Mihirlal Singh Deo was one of the pioneers who made Jhumur flourish outside Purulia. In 1939 he was born in a Zamindar family in Rajnawagarh under Kenda police station in Purulia. His uncle Hariprasad Singh Deo was a famous singer. Classical music was his family tradition. After completing his Graduation and Post graduation in music with distinction Mihirlal took up jhumur against the will of his family. He didn’t forget to remember his roots and Folk heritage. He was responsible for flourishing Jhumur amongst the young people .   In the initial years of his l ife Mihirlal used to practice Classical music. After that he started to be trainned from a renowned Jhumur artist Ramkrishna Ganguly. Mihirlal has played an important role in re-introducing Jhumur songs which was in the verge of extinction. People said that Jhumur song needs accompaniment of a Dancer, otherwise it won’t attract people. Mihirlal proved them wrong and made a prominent place in the world of Jhumur with...

In the world of music Gurus are of two types. One is a teacher who transfers his skills, knowledge and determination to his students. Another is a Guru who devotes his life for a particular art form and becomes a legend and a patron. Salabat Mahato is notable for both. The revival of the traditional Jhumur song in the regions of Bengal, Bihar Jharkhand and Orissa was through the skill of Salabat Mahato. Salabat Mahato was the pioneer to save the originality of Jhumur in this era of distortion. His inspirational voice and skill has influenced many young artists who are coming in this field.   No one can ever disagree about the contributions of Salabat Mahato. He was one of the eminent Jhumur personas.     Salabat Mahato was born in a farmer family in Latpada village under Barabajar Police station.  He was a lyricist, composer and singer. According to the researches done on Jhumur songs the time span where Salabat Mahato belongs is the Modern Era. Salabat...

Narayan Adhikary was an internationally famous Baul singer. He performed across 19 countries including France, Switzerland, Italy, England, Belgium and Japan. He took an important role to spread   Baul music among youth. He roamed around the world with his huge collection of songs. Narayan Adhikary was born in a village of Bangladesh, today’s East Pakistan. A dotara, gifted by his Guru, was his only belonging when he came to Bengal at the age of 10. Since childhood Narayan Adhikary was guided by different Gurus. His primary musical education was under his father Surdas Adhikary. Later on he took lessons from Biswanath Das, Haradahan Das, Sanatan Das and Brindaban Das Adhikary. He was a casket of songs of Lalon, Yadbindyu, Kubir Gonsai, Duddu Shah and Panju Shah. With his excellent voice and collection of songs he became a Guru. He had disciples in both the Bengals. Bakul Pal was his last student whom he taught Dotara with care and dedication.   She is now an es...

Biren Das Baul was one of the major Baul performers and Guru of the recent times. He had extraordinary knowledge about Baul philosophy. For this he got extra importance. He was born in 1940 at Jhinaidaha of Bangladesh. Panju Shah and Bijay Sarkar were also of the same land. Jhinaidaha has fame for being a centre of Baul-Fakir tradition. Safdar Shah a direct disciple of Lalon was the first teacher of  Biren Das. Later on he took lessons from Khodabaksh Shah, Mokshed Ali Shah, Karim Shah and  Behal Shah. During the Bangladesh war in 1971 Biren Das left Bangladesh and settled to Hariharpara of Murshidabad in Bengal. During his stay in Hariharpara his name spread fast because of his songs and religious interpretations of Vaishnavism and Islam. Later on he came to Chilekhali of   Tehatta   Daspara in Nadia. He always used to explain the importance and inner meaning of his songs to his audience which made him different and respectable. For having many gurus in the...

Tarak Khyapa was a renowned Baul artist and a Guru. Born in Joydev Kenduli of Birbhum, Tarak Khyapa’s vibrant voice and exuberant dance made people envious. His competency towards Dotara, Khol, Tabla and Gabgubi made him one of the most talented Baul artists. His primary introduction to Baul was obtained from his father Kanailal. From a very young age he bagan his official training under Sudhirbaba of famous Tamaltala Ashram in Joydev. He also got the guidance of Pagol Ramdash, a well known Baul exponent and lyricist.  Tarak Khyapa had an unlimited stock of songs. His presentation attracted his audience. Understanding each and every bit of the songs he united his soul and body and penetrated the depths of Baul music. He presented the pieces of Lalon Fakir, Haure Gnosai and Nilkantha . To spread the originality of Baul music and Baul Philosophy he established ‘Baul-Kutir-Sebasram’ where he passed on his skills of singing and Khamak playing to his students and disciples. ...