Lalon Fakir is famous as a composer and singer of which tradition of songs?

Explanation

Lalon Fakir, also known as Lalon Shah, is the most celebrated saint-poet of the Baul tradition of Bengal. His songs, known as Lalon Geeti, are still sung by Bauls and folk singers in both India and Bangladesh.

Lalon lived in the late 18th and 19th centuries and died in 1890. He spent most of his life at Cheuriya, near Kushtia, in present-day Bangladesh, where he set up an akhra (a community of followers). Very little is known for certain about his early life, and he never revealed his religion or caste. His songs reject the divisions of caste, religion and social status and seek the divine within the human body and heart, which the Bauls call the "maner manush" (the person of the heart). One of his most famous songs asks what people mean by caste, and says that people wear different signs of religion but are the same in birth and death. His ideas influenced Rabindranath Tagore, who collected and published some of his songs. His shrine at Cheuriya attracts thousands of followers every year.

The Bauls are wandering mystic minstrels of Bengal, belonging to both Hindu and Muslim backgrounds. They sing songs of love for the divine, often in simple language with deep meaning, and they live a simple, wandering life. They usually wear saffron or patched robes and play instruments such as the ektara (a one-stringed instrument), the dotara and small drums. In 2005, UNESCO proclaimed the Baul songs a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, and they are now on its Representative List. Purna Das Baul is a famous modern Baul singer.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Qawwali is the devotional music of the Sufis, linked with Amir Khusrau.
• ✗Rabindra Sangeet is the body of songs composed by Rabindranath Tagore.
• ✗Lavani is a folk song and dance form of Maharashtra.