| Description | Kali Dasgupta continues to discuss Indian folk songs and culture. He discusses protest elements in folk songs and recounts a story about an All India Peasant Congress that took place in Bengal in the 1940s, the mysticism of Sufis and the use of mysticism by people to protect themselves against social oppression, and the causes of the famine in Bengal during this period. He sings a peasant song and discusses the meaning of the lyrics, and goes on to discuss political developments in Bengal, the composition of a song in the 'ballad singing' style, the instruments used to accompany this song, and the improvisation that performers do. He then sings a song and discusses its form and performance. He talks about a song that he classifies as an anti-war song, sung by Bengali soldiers during the First World War period (tracks 1-3).
Track 4: Kali Dasgupta sings a Bengali anti-war song, which includes the English phrase 'post office' in the lyrics 1.20 mins
Track 5: Kali Dasgupta introduces a song he collected in Calcutta about a woman preparing chapatti in front of the oven and thinking about her soldier husband, comparing her love to a fire 1.26 mins
Track 6: Kali Dasgupta sings the song he has introduced and discusses the lyrics of another peasant song, which he then sings 2.54 mins
Track 7: Barbara Dane discusses Partition and the songs that must have been inspired by this experience. Kali Dasgupta discusses the collection of protest songs created during the National Independence movement and the traditional belief that these songs are political rather than folk songs. He introduces a song about a boat and discusses the meaning of the lyrics 3.27 mins
Track 8: Kali Dasgupta continues to discuss the meaning of Bengali folk song lyrics and sings excerpts from some of them 5.18 mins
Track 9: he discusses social oppression 1.18 mins
Track 10: Charles Parker reads an article from 'The Guardian' 18 September 1970 about a festival of Indian culture which discusses some of the performances, which includes quotes from Kali Dasgupta about British pop music 3.26 mins
Total: 32.41 mins
Dubber's reference number: PLA KF573E0717480 |