By Pulack Ghatack
2021-01-22
Singers of
the Baul folk tradition in Bangladesh are struggling to survive after more than
a decade of physical and legal attacks by Islamic hardliners who consider these
artists apostates and heretics.
A
Baul sings as he plays a traditional single-string musical instrument called
‘Ektara,’ at a rural concert in Munshiganj district, Bangladesh. Dec. 26, 2019.
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Bauls – as
these wandering minstrels are called in Bangladesh and West Bengal in India –
are neither of those things, but they are nonconformists whose songs boldly
showcase their syncretic mystical roots.
Rita Dewan,
an acclaimed Bangladeshi Baul singer, says she was forced into hiding for most
of last year after religious zealots in the Muslim-majority nation threatened
to kill her. They accused her of defaming Islam “by making vulgar remarks about
god” in a performance uploaded online last January.
“I am in
trouble and facing death threats by Mullahs,” the singer told BenarNews. “But I
will continue to sing because this is not only the source of my income, but
also a part of my prayers. I feel the blessings and touch of Allah through my
songs, which also teach me to hate no one.”
Singer
Parvathy Baul
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While the
community is not entirely ascetic, most Bauls live frugally, surviving on what
they earn from their itinerant performances. That means, when members of the
community are killed or tied up in legal challenges for their allegedly
anti-Islam performances, their already meagre earnings take a huge hit.
That is
what has been happening since 2011, when a surge in Islamic extremism targeted
Bauls as well as writers, bloggers, publishers, activists and intellectuals,
said Baki Billah, a human rights activist in Dhaka.
“The Baul
performers have been increasingly facing death threats and attacks due to the
rise of hardline Islamists since then,” Billah told BenarNews.
These
attacks on Bauls are also a threat to the survival in Bangladesh of the folk
form, which has influenced the likes of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore,
American folk icon Bob Dylan, acclaimed beat poet Alan Ginsberg, and others.
In 2005,
UNESCO, the cultural arm of the United Nations, proclaimed the Baul artistic
genre a “Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.”
“The
preservation of the Baul songs and the general context in which they are
performed depend mainly on the social and economic situation of their
practitioners, the Bauls, who have always been a relatively marginalized group,”
UNESCO said in its 2008 inscription on the Representative List of the
Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
'A New Weapon'
According
to Billah, Baul artists in recent years have been tied up in cases lodged
against them by religious fundamentalists under Bangladesh’s draconian Digital
Security Act.
This law
punishes those who produce or distribute content that “hurts religious
sentiments or religious values” or “destroys communal harmony, or creates
unrest or disorder” with 10 years in prison.
It also
makes “propaganda” against “the liberation war, the spirit of the liberation
war, the nation’s founding father, the national anthem, or national flag”
punishable with a maximum of life in prison. The war being referred to is the
one in what was then East Pakistan in 1971.
“Physical
attacks and killings of Bauls and Sufi researchers have decreased since the
government’s crackdown against militants following the Holey Artisan terror
attack of July 1, 2016,” Billah said, referring to a massacre of hostages by
machete-wielding militants who attacked a Dhaka cafe.
“But now
the people belonging to the same ideology are filing cases against Bauls and
the people of other faiths. The Digital Security Act has emerged as a new
weapon to harass them.”
Dewan, the
Baul singer, has four cases against her under the DSA for allegedly hurting
religious sentiments.
Shariat
Sarker, another Baul singer, languished in prison for seven months after he was
arrested under the act in January last year.
“How can I
stop singing? I have been practicing the Baul path since my childhood,” Sarker
told BenarNews.
His wife,
Mosammat Shirin Akhter, said the family of five was in financial straits.
“We are in
hardship along with our three children. Baul performances have almost stopped,
as people now are afraid to organize such events,” Akhter told BenarNews,
adding that this had begun before the outbreak of coronavirus.
Dewan’s
husband said law enforcement had been ordered not to allow Baul performances.
“Once upon
a time, we did not have to seek police permission to organize any event. But
now it is a big problem. Police do not want to give permission to organize Baul
events they want to avoid unrest,” Muhammad Ashraful Islam told BenarNews.
Md Abdul
Mannan Ilias, additional secretary to the Cultural Affairs Ministry, denied
Islam’s allegation.
“The
government has given no instructions to restrict Baul events. Police might have
imposed restrictions due to the pandemic,” Ilias told BenarNews.
In fact,
government officials have been promoting various folk heritages, he said.
“We know
that folk performers are in trouble as functions are restricted due to COVID
19. Personally, I feel their pain in my heart. We discussed how to promote them
in a meeting even today while discussing the budget of 2021-2022 financial
year,” Ilias said.
‘Such
practices need to be stopped’
The Bauls
are an unorthodox devotional art form, influenced by Hinduism, Buddhism and
Sufi Islam, yet distinctly different from them, UNESCO says.
“Bauls
neither identify with any organized religion nor with the caste system, special
deities, temples or sacred places. Their emphasis lies on the importance of a
person’s physical body as the place where God resides,” according to the U.N.
agency.
This
explanation cuts no ice with those who believe the Bauls are insulting the
religion of Islam through their songs.
Muhammad
Imrul Hasan, who filed one of the cases against Dewan, said he planned to
continue his legal barrage.
“The Bauls
make audacious remarks about Allah. Such practices need to be stopped once and
for all. I will file more cases to stop this,” Hassan said.
He was
referring to Dewan’s performance, a duet, in which she played the role of an
atheist while her co-singer played the role of God. The two characters engaged
in a philosophical discussion through their song.
Dewan said
she was not insulting any god or religion.
“During
Baul performances, we sometimes have a debate. I performed the role of an
atheist to raise questions, while my opponent performed the role of God to
answer the questions,” Dewan said.
“The aim is
to clarify issues and ultimately submit to God. This practice has continued for
centuries.”
Another
case was filed against Dewan by Rasel Mia, who said he was just doing his
religious duty.
“I filed
the case, because I thought it my duty as a Muslim to protest the objectionable
remarks about Allah,” Mia told BenarNews.
When asked
whether it was alright for an actor to play the role of a villain or Satan, he
declined to comment.
When
playing a role – whether in a film, play or any other performance – artists
often have to say unpleasant things, but that is simply a role, said Tapan
Bagchi, deputy director of the Bangla Academy, a cultural institute under the
Ministry of Cultural Affairs.
“When
someone acts as a traitor, he might have to make derogatory comments against
Bangladesh and its founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. It’s not treason,”
Bagchi said.
“An artist has the right.”
Original Headline: Baul Singers of Bangladesh
Struggle to Survive Amid Onslaught By Muslim Hardliner
Source: The Benar News
URL: https://newageislam.com/radical-islamism-jihad/bangladesh-islamic-hardliners-consider-baul/d/124144
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