A unique folk music collage is recently released by the famous Indian Folk band Sahajiya led by singer Deb Chowdhury. It is a tribute to the Baul Samrat Shah Abdul Karim to celebrate his 110th Birth Anniversary. Abdul Karim was one of the finest and acclaimed Baul musicians and philosophers who wrote and composed more than thousand songs. Now-a-days, his songs are regarded as the one of the notable folk songs of Bengal.
Being a devotee Muslim by birth, Abdul Karim always showed his respect for Radha-Krishna through his lyrics and compositions and broke all the barriers of religion, class and creed. Deb Chowdhury and Sahajiya Folk Band being one of the torch bearers of the authentic folk songs of Bengal, has been paying this homage to the legendary Baul Maestro. This exclusive collage is based on Abdul Karim’s popular compositions, and musically designed, orchestrated & presented with Global music elements.
Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4MMHGb85Eo
Sahajiya Folk Band is the performing wing of Sahajiya Foundation which is working at the grass-root level for expansion, promotion and exploration of folk songs of Bengal and India since 2009 under the leadership of Deb Chowdhury. Besides production and performance, their work also successfully marks the multifaceted line of actions which includes a thorough research work on primitive folk songs of Bengal, documentation, revival of dying art and voluntarily working to support the veteran aged folk artists and their families in indigent circumstances. Foundation has created an interactive platform for the development of folk and world music, which includes organizing events, shows and festivals, workshops and seminars, cultural & musical collaboration and exchange programs.
Sahajiya Folk Band on the other hand, works with a wide range of Folk Songs with varied rhythm, melody & philosophical thoughts. Their focus is to promote Indian Folk & Philosophical music to the mainstream World Music arena.Deb Chowdhury is the Founder Director of Sahajiya Foundation and Lead Vocalist of Sahajiya Folk Band. He is an internationally acclaimed Indian folk singer & research person, working for the Indigenous Art & Culture of India for the last 28 years. He is a disciple of Guru Late Kalachand Darbesh, the last Darbeshi Guru of Bengal. Presently, Deb is the only practitioner of Darbeshi Songs, a dying Philosophical Folk Music Form of India.
For last eight years, Deb works as the Guru, Mentor, Groomer, and Music designer of Zee Bangla – Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, the biggest and most popular musical TV show of Bengal. His prominent television presence includes the Guest performer and Judge of different musical shows in Doordarshan and famous Anchor of Good Morning Akash, a Live musical TV Show of Akash Aath Channel. He is the Guru of Traditional Bengali folk music for ‘Guru-Shishya Parampara’ under Ministry of Culture, GOI. Deb is also an archivist, documentary filmmaker & music director working in national and international forums, television & feature films. Deb already has performed in almost 1000 Stage & TV shows in India & abroad.
The most prestigious was the Inaugural Programme of NABC 2025 in Toronto. He researched, directed and curated A Mega Folk Musical Ballad with more than 200 performers from North America. Apart from regular performances at different cities in USA, he was invited for Lecture Demonstration Sessions by RICE University & Shepherd School of Music, Texas, USA 2022. He gives lectures in many International Seminars and Workshops, mainly organised by Jadavpur University, University of Calcutta, Amity University, Brainware University as a Guest Speaker. He also takes part in Musical crossover projects of American & German Consulate, Kolkata.
Through his journey of music Deb was honoured as ‘Best Citizen of Kolkata’ by Calcutta Journalists Club, 2022. The Iconic Singer Shankar Mahadevan awarded him for his contribution in Bengali Folk Music in 2021. He was felicitated with ‘Kabbyalok Samman’ from Agartala, Tripura, 2021 and ‘Bhasha Sainik Samman’ from Assam, 2021. He got ‘Ati Uttam Tele Cine Award 2006’ for best male singer & music director in Television. He also got felicitation from Dept of Youth Affairs & Sports, Govt. of India, Bhopal, 1995.
