Rashid has been singing the Bengali folk and pop songs at different international music nights since he came to Iowa State University for graduate studies. These are the songs he grew up with in Bangladesh, the tunes he loves, the tunes that haunt him and make him nostalgic like many other Bangladeshis. Sometimes he plays them on his acoustic guitar too, sometimes on his bamboo flute.

Bodhi is from the Bengal part of India. Like Rashid, he also has been performing on different stages at Ames since he came to Iowa State University for his graduate studies. He, being a drummer, has accompanied different people at different times. He plays the tablas, the pair of hand drums that hail from Northern part of the Indian subcontinent.

Now it happens that Rashid and Bodhi speak the same language (Bengali), share similar culture and customs, though they are from different countries and have different religions. Bodhi also grew up with the same songs and tunes that Rashid did, and sometimes on weekends in Ames, they will just get their instruments together and re-live the music they grew up with.

It was the summer of '99 when they started thinking how they could share and mingle their music with the multi-cultural community of Ames and Iowa. Things were still somewhat unsure -- that was when Patrick Hazell walked into the Great Hall at the Memorial Union of ISU, where Rashid was performing for the International Night.

Patrick is an accomplished musician himself, he has been singing Blues and playing Blues on his acoustic piano and harmonica for years, he started his professional career back in 1960. As his webpage (www.patrickhazell.com) says, he "grew up on the Mississippi River," at Burlington, Iowa. Today he still lives and works there and tours extensively both by himself and with other musicians, both in and out of the Midwest. This year itself he has already been on fortnight-long tours to Europe and South America. He is a well known name in the Blues scene of the Midwest -- Des Moines Register once called him "a legend in Iowa Music." The Mother Blues Band, that he formed in the late '60s in Iowa City, created quite a stir in the '70s and the early 80s.

Patrick liked Rashid's singing -- he asked Rashid if he would like to perform at Burlington where he runs a music shop on the downtown, named The Blue Shop (www.theblueshop.com). Rashid and Bodhi jumped at this opportunity and on 12th of February this year they went and played at The Blue Shop at Burlington, Iowa. There, in one of the rare times in the history of world music, Bengali folk and pop songs found the same stage with Blues! Patrick, Rashid and Bodhi communicated through their music and their collaboration crossed all barriers of cultures and enthralled the audience. This was the inception of a unique musical collaboration.

Patrick, Rashid and Bodhi wanted to do something similar in Ames. Luckily for them, Peter Sherman of La Boheme came forward. They chose a name for the show: "Baul Blues," a name which speaks of their musical collaboration -- Baul (pronounced "Ba" as in barn + "wool") is a form of Bengali folk music. On the 16th of July, Sunday, once again this unique musical experience will unfold at La Boheme, Ames.