Bhawaiya talent no blessing for Teesta char performer
Bhawaiya folksong performer Ratna Sen, 37 from the Teesta river char(land emerging from riverbed) area of Tepamadhupur village in Rangpur's Kawnia upazila used to earn a liveable income from music. But with paid opportunities to perform on the decline, she now works as a labourer, earning at most Tk 150 in a day. It's not much of a life; she doesn't even have enough money to repair her cherished harmonium.
“Only five years ago I was regularly hired to perform Bhawaiya songs at cultural functions. But such functions have become rare,” says Ratna. “Occasionally I still find paid work, to sing for non-government organisations in campaigns against social ills such as child marriage and stalking. But those jobs aren't regular and they don't pay much.”
The fourth of seven siblings, Ratna got married about 21 years ago, but her husband left her the day after the marriage. Ratna blames destiny for the misfortune and stopped her parents from taking any legal action against the bridegroom. Instead, she turned to folk music and built a reputation, too, as a skilled actress in local theatrical productions. With the money she then earned she was able to help her elderly parents and younger brothers.
“I still practice singing at night,” she says. “I want to perform Bhawaiya for as long as I live.” But for the last six months she has to sing a cappella because of her broken harmonium.
“Ratna entertains the villagers here,” says her neighbour Mukul Chandra Sen, 55. “But inside she cries. We are also poor in this village, so we don't have the ability to help her much.”
“When we conduct social issue awareness campaigns that require songs or drama acting we hire Ratna Sen,” says local non-government organisation representative Nur Jahan Begum, 42. “But we can't pay her much since we also have such limited funds.”
According to another Bhawaiya artist, Nalini Chandra Das, 58, from the same village, Ratna is not the only performer doing it tough. “All of the folksong performers in our area are facing a livelihood crisis. They all work as farm labourers. But although Ratna's life has seen much tragedy, we love her. We respect her, though there is nothing we can really do to help.”
“I look black; my life is black,” Ratna says, in tears. “Black is my pain. Black is my asset. I must love black. I have a dilapidated hut where I live with a broken heart and a broken harmonium. One day it will end, on the day that I die.”
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