Baul music gets a Japanese rhythm

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The serene peach colour of her sari reflected the tranquillity in her words and gestures as Japanese artist

Tomomi Paromita

described her tryst with

Baul music

since 2012. For her, Baul is a yogic practice and she views the art form as an aesthetic way of inner transformation.

Paromita had ventured into this genre of music after she encountered her guru Parvathy Baul while working as a translator at

Technopark

.

“I chose Baul as the right path for me from 2012. Through practise, I realised that bhakti is the basic attitude and each song I perform is a lesson for me,” she said while sipping guava juice, before her concert at

Bharat Bhavan

on Tuesday.

Paromita had been shuttling between India and Japan ever since her graduation in Sanskrit in 2008 when lessons about ancient India tempted her to return here. She also had other interests like poems, painting and martial arts (Taido and Aikido). “Through paintings and poems, I try to capture and preserve the impressions that I have come across at some points in my life. It is a way of mediation too. Sometimes, a feeling or an impression created by someone will be too precious that I do not want to let it go. I preserve them through my poems and paintings,” she said.

However, for Tomomi, Baul is superior to any other genre of music and she has a reason. “In Baul, the purpose is the practise and music is part of that process,” she said adding that singing and dancing at the same time demanded great effort. Paromita’s concert featured Golchandrika and other hymns. Her gungaroo, dugi and ektara echoed the serenity in her mind as well as her devoutness to Baul music.