Allen with Baul singer, Purna Das, Kolkata, September 1971, at the time of Allen’s visit to the Jessore Road Bangladeshi refugee camps. (photographer unknown. Ginsberg Collection)
Allen had met Purna Das’ father, the legendary Baul Nabani Das (gravely ill at the time) in 1962. It was Purna Das who introduced Baul singing to the world through Bob Dylan’s manager, Albert Grossman, who phoned him during a visit to Kolkata in 1967 (he said he got Purna’s number from Allen!) inviting him to the US. This precipitated a tour and a record deal, “Bauls of Bengal”(Elektra) He also graces the cover of Dylan’s 1967 John Wesley Harding.
Bauls are wandering minstrels from the Bengal region straddling the Bangladesh-India border. Admired by Tagore for whom the word Baul meant ‘madcap’ or nonconformist, & certainly admired by Allen whose later poem “After Lalon Shah”, an homage to the legendary Baul saint, Lalon Fakir (Shah), is an imitation in the traditional style of Baul songs, humorously conveying the hard truths of life.
#purnadasbaul #baul #baulsong #bobdyaln #albertgrossman #lalonfakir #lalonshah #bangladesh #bengal #westbengal #tagore #jessoreroad #septemberonjessoreroad (at Kolkata India) https://www.instagram.com/p/CgXBCofOlJG/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
