Gonjla Gaen

Gonjla Gaen (18th century) kaviyal (bard) who organised kaviyal groups to sing at the houses of aristocrats on payment. Gonjla Guin had a special style of singing. He sang the opening section in the manner of light sub-continental classical music, followed by a section sung on a higher scale. His songs such as 'aso aso chand badani/ e rase niras karo na dhani', 'pran, tore heriye dure gelo mor' etc resemble the themes and style of tappa songs. Among his disciples were Ragunath Das, Lalu, Nanda Lal, Kesta Muchi and Ramjee Das, who helped popularise these songs. [Wakil Ahmed]