Rajasthani folk artists Gafruddin Mewati Jogi and Taga Ram Bheel were on Sunday announced as recipients of the Padma Shri awards in the ‘unsung heroes’ category. Gafruddin, 68, is known for folk and traditional music, particularly the bhapang. Also known as the ‘talking drum’, bhapang is a rhythmic percussion instrument made of a hollow dry pumpkin shell mounted with goatskin. Hailing from the Mewati Jogi community, Gafruddin received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award last year from President Droupadi Murmu. In its citation, the Akademi said that Gafruddin “also happens to be the last surviving folk artist who knows and performs all the 2,500-plus dohas of Pandun ka kada (Mahabharata)”. “I learnt bhapang from my father, Budh Singh Jogi. We used to perform together; he used to play jogiya sarangi, and I would play bhapang alongside him. One of my uncles used to be on harmonium, another on dholak,” Gafruddin told The Indian Express. Gafruddin traces his lineage to Ismail Nath Jogi, said to be a disciple of Gorakhnath, one of the nine Navnaths; Ismail recited …