Parvathy Baul

Parvathy Baul was born Mousumi Parial in East Bengal, India on October 25, 1976 to a traditional Bengali Brahmin family, where she was classically trained in singing, dance and music. Her family moved to a surrounding area near West Bengal and Assam called Cooch Behar. Cooch Behar is a region rich in folk music in which young Mousumi was very attracted to. The folk music also inspired her to pursue visual arts, painting and drawing, which subsequently led her to enroll at the prestigious university in Shantiniketan, a town founded by famous Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore. At the age of 16, while on a train on her way to Shantiniketan with her brother, Parvathy encountered a blind Baul street musician performing the traditional folk music of the mystic Baul minstrels from Bengal. Parvathy was instantly mesmerised by the depth and spiritual intensity of the music and songs. From that point on she knew that Baul music would be her path in life. Today, Parvathy Baul is a performer, teacher and practitioner of the Baul tradition that originates from Bengal, India. She is also an instrumentalist, storyteller and painter. Parvathy's performance work emerges from a long lineage of master Baul singers, dancers, and spiritual teachers. She studied closely with two of the most respected Baul singer-gurus of the previous generation, Sri Sanatan Das Thakur Baul and Sri Shoshanko Goshai. She was recognized by Sanatan Das Baul as both a musical and spiritual teacher in the Baul tradition, and is now carrying forward his spiritual legacy. Parvathy met her first Baul guru, Shri Sanathan Das Baul, when he performed at her university. Later, with a strong will to find him, she tirelessly walked by foot over 100 miles to his ashram, where he eventually accepted her as his student. Parvathy studied with her guru for 7 years, learning seven Baul songs, and taught herself how to play three traditional musical instruments. Then her guru told Parvathy it was time to leave, and instructed her to go out and search for another guru to further her practice and build her own repertoire of songs. She was also instructed to perform in public to spread the message of the Bauls, and to meet people from other lands. During this time, Parvathy found a second Baul master, Shri Shashanko Goshai Baul, who taught her numerous songs as well as the intricacies of the Baul tradition during a 3-year period up until his death at the age of 100. Parvathy then travelled south to Kerala where she met her third guru, Ravi Gopalan Nair, who also became her husband and supported her in her Baul practice. He was a puppeteer and a master of theatre arts, and helped Parvathy develop her performance art and style. It was during this time that Mousumi was given her new name Parvathy Baul by her first guru, Sri Sanathan Das Baul, who she and Ravi continued to visit regularly. Parvathy Baul has traveled extensively performing throughout India and the world for more than 20 years, following her guru's instructions. Sri Sanathan Das Baul passed away in March 2016. In remembrance of her guru and to fulfill his wish, Parvathy is now in the early stages of building a permanent centre for the continuation of Baul practice and study in the land of Bengal. While fully embodying traditional Baul music and practice in her performances, Parvathy is renowned for her continued efforts in renewing this ancient Indian heritage. Baul is a powerful musical form that has been recognised as a "Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by UNESCO, and dates back to the early 8th C. AD. Today, the Baul tradition has grown, weaving together threads from Sahajiya Buddhism, Turkish Sufism and Bengali Hinduism. Parvathy has performed Baul music in over forty countries, including such prestigious concert halls and music festivals as the Noh Theater in Kyoto, the World Music Center in New York City, and the Festival of World Sacred Music in Fez, Morocco. Parvathy's technical virtuosity - her mastery of vocal pitch and tone while playing multiple instruments and dancing - has been lauded by music experts. The depth of her mesmerising performance is rooted in her deep spiritual practice, and is described by critics as "riveting" and "spellbinding." As the most recognized woman Baul performer in the world, Parvathy is making systematic training in traditional Baul arts available to women on a scale that has never occurred previously. She is the founder of Tantidhatri, an international women's performance festival, and co-founder of the Ekathara Kalari school in Kerala, India for training in both song and traditional spiritual practice. She is a tireless advocate for both preservation and renewal of the tradition, frequently using her international reputation to highlight other lesser known master performers. Parvathy has recorded five CD's of music and published a book on the Baul tradition through Ekathara Kalari, her non-profit institution promoting ancient Indian spiritual traditions with an emphasis on Baul arts and practice. The co-founder of Ekathara Kalari is her husband Sri Ravi Gopalan Nair, with whom she has also collaborated on numerous woodcut prints capturing various elements of Baul life. Parvathy Baul was recently featured in two Bengali films, Teenkahon (2014) where she sang and wrote the lyrics, and Arshinagar (2015) in which she made a special appearance.