Purna Das Sings With Intensity, Flair

Purna Das is one of the most visible masters of the Baul music of Bengal. It is a music that blends a number of familiar elements--a passionate vocalizing reminiscent of the qawwali music of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, with an underpinning of classical Indian instrumental sounds and a joyous physical exuberance. And Das, a colorfully dressed Bengali with the high, soaring voice of an operatic tenor, does it with an irresistible flair.

On Saturday night, Das and his players and singers performed at the Koan Collection Gallery on Melrose Boulevard in the first of two Southland stops (the Bauls were also scheduled to appear at the Ash Grove in Santa Monica on Sunday). The gallery was a perfect environment to experience their music. Small and intimate, the space had the feeling of a friend’s exotic living room, profuse with Asian artifacts--statues, rugs, ornaments, cabinets, tables and assorted exotic pieces. It was a setting ideally suited to the lush, many-layered sounds of Das’ seven-piece ensemble.

Most of the direction and announcements for the performance were handled by Das’ son Bapi, an exuberant young man with a voice similar to that of his father, and a sensual dancing energy that kept him moving throughout most of the set. The other principal singer was Das’ wife, Manju, a well-known folk singer in her own right. The four-piece instrumental group backing the vocalists included tabla player Badal Roy, perhaps best known in this country for his work with jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman.

But the heart of the music almost always centered on Purna Das himself. Building slowly from song to song, gradually dominating the proceedings, his voice was a marvelous thing to hear. Filled with dramatic intensity and gripping virtuosity, it was nonetheless powerfully communicative, even for an audience that couldn’t understand a word of what he was singing. Like all great artists, the specificity of his message was far less important than its capacity to touch his listeners at the deepest levels of emotion.