The Urkult Festival in Näsåker, a small village in Sweden with about 600 inhabitants celebrates folk and world music with both domestic and international elements. The 27 th edition of the World Music Festival Urkult was held this year from August 3rd to August 5th in which innumerous musicians from all around the world partook. Both the artists and audience travel to the venue by a train, the journey of which is very enthralling. Apart from concerts on various stages, the program consists of activities, workshops, poetry and a variety of activities for the little ones. Crafts and ecological food are other regular features at Urkult. Baul maestro Mallika Akar performed at Urkult Music Festival in Sweden on Aug 5, 2023.

WOMEX, is an international networking platform for the world of music industry held each year in a city of Europe. This year it was held from Oct 19-Oct 23, 2022 in Lisbon, Portugal. This international platform brings together professionals from the worlds of folk, roots, ethnic and traditional music and also includes concerts, conferences and documentary films. Since 2011, we have been attending WOMEX and from 2014 onwards we have a dedicated stand to promote folk music of Bengal and Rajasthan.
This is the first time, artists of Bengal got selected at WOMEX and performed in Lisbon.
Rina Das Baul and her team Rangamatir Baul from Santiniketan, West Bengal represented Baul music in front of more than 1000 music professionals from 113 countries. The performance of Rina Das Baul and her team touched people’s souls and got immense appreciation. It was a proud moment for all of us.
She is an inspiration for not only all the music enthusiasts but the women of our society. She has indicated a path for all the women who are dreaming of something aspirational, that can be achieved and lived with much dedication and a strong mindset.

Rangamatir Baul

Urkult is a three- day music festival which is attended by people from all over the world and is organised by a non-profit organisation named Urkult Society in north of Sweden in Nasaker village. For 2017, it was organized between the 2^nd to the 4^th of August. As part of the banglanatak dot com team Folks of Bengal led by Debalina Bhowmick, a 3 member Baul team comprising of Rina Das from Birbhum, Khokan Das from Murshidabad and Mohan Tati of Bankura performed in the festival on Aug 4, in front of around 2000 international audience and exhibited their excellent artistry. Audience interacted with the singers after their performance to appreciate their singing styles and talk about the Baul philosophy.

Colours of Ostrava is an international multi-genre music festival organised annually in Ostrava since 2002. In 2017, it was organized from July 19^th to 22^nd. Baul artists like Bhajan Das Bairagya, Mohan Tanti, Khokan Das and Sumanta Das Baul participated in the same as part of the banglanatak dot com team Folks of Bengal led by Debalina Bhowmick and Sourav Moni. They performed on July 22^nd at the main stage known as Gong auditorium in front of 5000 audience. The team also conducted a musical workshop on July 21^st with 300 artists where Bhajan Das Bairagya taught the audience a Baul song.

An 8-member delegation represented India at the 10th International Folklore Festival of Noyon in France, held from July 4 – 8, 2017. It included a three-member Baul team consisting of Subhadra Sharma,   Gopen Debnath from Nadia and Girish Mondal from Bardhaman as part of 16 member Folk team sent by banglanatak dot com. Teams from China, Romania, Chile and South France also attended the festival at Noyon, which is a commune 100 km north of Paris. The performances were held at nearby communes, such as Roye, Rethondes, Berlancourt, Ham and Clairoix. Team India performed at the inauguration ceremony on Jul 4 at the Noyon Cathedral. Thereafter they performed at Roye and Rethondes and around 3000 audiences saw the shows. All the performances were highly appreciated by the audience.

The Ethno Krakow Festival held from 5th July to 8th July 2017 in Poland is a leading festival in Central Europe. Lead musicians and music groups from all over the world come to attend this festival which includes musical performances. The festival  It has been a meeting point of various cultural backgrounds and musical traditions. Twenty concerts took place in prominent places of the city such as the Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria, the Galicia Jewish Museum, Krakow Club and the open-air stage on Wolnica Square. The festival through its programme pays tribute to folk and traditional music of the roots and at the same time reaches out to modern and contemporary means of artistic expression. Baul artist Rabi Mondal of Birbhum was part of 5 member Folks of Bengal team led by Debalina Bhowmick and the band mesmerized the audience on July 8 at Wolnica Square.

The 2017 edition of the Copenhagen World Music Festival was held between 7 and 9 September. The focus was on Europe’s diversity and cultural exchange and the guests included teams from India, Russia, the Baltics, China, Cuba, Brazil and Morocco.  Folks of Bengal team of banglanatak dot com led by Debalina Bhowmick also had a few Baul Fakiri musicians including Babu Fakir, Gopi Khyapa, Mohan Tanti (flute) and Rana Mondal (percussion). The band took the audience on a journey through Bengal’s musical diversity and the richness of its cultural heritage, pivoting around the music of the Baul-Fakirs.

A three-member team had visited the Transform Festival in Trondheim, Norway, during October 2017. One of them was the Baul artist Girish Khyapa who had performed before an ecstatic audience.

The Armor India Festival is organized by the association Aadi in different parts of the commune Morlaix, Brittany, France. In the 2018 version of the same, a four-member Folks of Bengal team led by Rina Das Baul participated in the Armor India festival in France’s Morlaix, Britanny, in May 2018. They had 3 performances and Rina mesmerized the audience with her fantastic Baul songs. She was accompanied by Dibakar Das Baul and 2 other musicians.

Young Baul artists Sadhu Das and Kangal Khyapa and percussionist Khokan Das were among the 5 member Folks of Bengal team led by Debalina Bhowmick and Dipannita Acharya, which performed in  Sweden at Urkult.

Folks of Bengal band led by Debalina Bhowmick performed at Karlsruhe Festival in Germany held on 14 and 15 July 2018. The team, also comprising Sumanta Das Baul, Mohan Tanti and Khokon Das, earned great appreciation from the audience and music connoisseurs present at the event.

Started from 2014, the Salföldi Dalföld Music Festival is one of the prominent village music festivals of Hungary. A four-member Folks of Bengal team led by Debalina Bhowmick won the hearts of audiences at the music festival held on 7 and 8 July 2018. The team also comprised Sumanta Das Baul, Mohan Tanti and Khokon Das.

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival is an international exposition of living cultural heritage annually produced outdoors on the National Mall of the United States in Washington, D.C., by the Smithsonian Institution’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Baul artist Girish Khyapa and Robi Mondal participated in the festival as part of Folks of Bengal team led by Arpan Thakur Chakraborty and Manas Acharya and was organized from June 26-July 15 2018.