Paban Das Baul is a noted baul

Baul

Baul .Though Bauls comprise only a small fraction of the Bengali population, their influence on the culture of Bengal is considerable. In 2005, the Baul tradition was included in the list of "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by UNESCO.-Etymology:The origin of the word...

 singer and musician from India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, who also plays a dubki, a small tambourine

Tambourine

The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....

 and sometimes an ektara

Ektara

Ektara is a one-string instrument used in Bangladesh, India, Egypt, and Pakistan.thumb||EktaraIn origin the ektara was a regular string instrument of wandering bards and minstrels from India and is plucked with one finger...

as an accompaniment. He is known for pioneering traditional Baul

Baul

Baul .Though Bauls comprise only a small fraction of the Bengali population, their influence on the culture of Bengal is considerable. In 2005, the Baul tradition was included in the list of "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by UNESCO.-Etymology:The origin of the word...

 music on the international music scene and for establishing a genre of folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

-fusion

Fusion (music)

A fusion genre is music that combines two or more styles. For example, rock and roll originally developed as a fusion of blues, gospel and country music. The main characteristics of fusion genres are variations in tempo, rhythm, i a sometimes the use of long musical "journeys" that can be divided...

 music.

Early life

Born in Mohammedpur, a small village in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal, where his early musical influences were his father, and wandering baul

Baul

Baul .Though Bauls comprise only a small fraction of the Bengali population, their influence on the culture of Bengal is considerable. In 2005, the Baul tradition was included in the list of "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by UNESCO.-Etymology:The origin of the word...

 singers.

Career

In 1988, Das Baul started collaborating with Sam Mills, a London-born guitarist who had performed with experimental, avant garde group 23 Skiddoo between 1979 and 1982. Their collaboration resulted in the acclaimed album "Real Sugar" (1997), a Peter Gabriel's Real World Records

Real World Records

Real World Records is a record label started in 1989 by Peter Gabriel to record and produce world music.-Overview:The label grew up alongside the success of the WOMAD festivals and Peter Gabriel's exploration of music from other cultures, and helped push world music into the general public's...

 release, it marked one of the first fusions of Bengali music and Western pop music. He has also collaborated with the London-based State of Bengal and Susheela Raman

Susheela Raman

Susheela Raman is an acclaimed British Tamil musician. Raman has released five albums since 2001. Her debut album Salt Rain was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2001.-Early years:...

. In 2005, the Baul tradition was included in the list of "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity

Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity

The Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity was made by the Director-General of UNESCO starting in 2001 to raise awareness on intangible cultural heritage and encourage local communities to protect them and the local people who sustain these forms of cultural...

" by UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

.

He also performed at the Jaipur Literature Festival

Jaipur Literature Festival

The Jaipur Literature Festival is an annual literary festival taking place in the pink city of Jaipur since 2006. The Diggi Palace Hotel serves as the main venue of the festival...

  and the "Nine Lives

Nine Lives: in Search of the Sacred in Modern India

Nine Lives: in Search of the Sacred in Modern India is a 2009 travel book by William Dalrymple.-Summary:Dalrymple's seventh book is about the lives of nine Indians, a Buddhist monk, a Jain nun, a lady from a middle-class family in Calcutta, a prison warden from Kerala, an illiterate goat herd from...

" Concert, 2009 in London, of William Dalrymple.

Personal life

He met Mimlu as an concert audience in 1982 in Paris, they later married and lived in Paris for many years. He has taught himself to read, not just Bengali, but Hindi, English and French.

Discography

• Real Sugar (1997) (Real World)
• Inner Knowledge (Womad Select - 1997)
• State of Bengal vs. Paban Das Baul (2004)
• Tana Tani (Push & Pull) (2004)
• Paban Das Baul - Music Of The Honey Gatherers (Riverboat Records)

External links

• Paban Das Baul at last.fm
  Last.fm
  Last.fm is a music website, founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. It has claimed 30 million active users in March 2009. On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for UK£140m ....