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Symphony of dissent

PHOTOS: AFP

Rebels with a cause Al Sharpton (L), Martin Luther King III (R) and his sister Bernice sing "We Shall Overcome" during a vigil in Memphis, Tennessee, (centre) Bob Dylan at a concert and (right)British singer M.I.A. at the Rock en Seine music festival, near Paris

Arise, ye prisoners of starvation! Arise, ye wretched of the earth!”- The first two lines of the 1900 Charles Hope Kerr’s American version of The Internationale (1871).

Pakistani band Laal has been creating waves with their debut album Umeed-e-Sehar (2009), which means ‘Hope of a new dawn’. Though Laal has links with the Communist Mazdoor Kisan Party in Pakistan, their appeal has transcended party ranks and elevated them to cult status during the protest for restoration of judges.

Their song Kal, Aaj aur Kal (Yesterday, today and tomorrow) became the anthem of the Lawyers’ Movement, with chants of the chorus, “Jeet hamara mustakbil hai” (Our victory is certain) filling the air during the protests.

The lyrics of many of their songs are the poems of poets Habib Jalib and Faiz Ahmed Faiz. The music video of the title track shows people stopping a VIP convoy, non-violently, to let an ambulance go through. Laal has a growing fan base in India too thanks to broadband internet and the recession, where revolutionary writings are being re-examined world over.

Umeed-e-Sehar is part of a revival of the fading genre of protest music. Famous former protest singers like Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young have came out against the “War on Terror”. Popular anti-Bush numbers in this millennium are Young’s Let’s Impeach the President and Springsteen’s Last to Die. Contemporary American protest singers include Alicia Beth Moore a.k.a. Pink who’s When the president talks to God, has been called this century’s most powerful song. Pearl Jam’s World Wide Suicide, too became a runaway hit. Rappers like Marshall Bruce Mathers III a.k.a. Eminem have run into controversy with anti-establishment tracks like White America, Mosh and We as Americans.

The genre itself has historically been congenitally controversial. Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind (1963) and Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall (1979) were anthems of the social churning of the 60s and 70s. It wasn’t uncommon to hear We Shall Overcome (1947) sung at police barricades during the United States civil rights movement or to have the plugs pulled out if the Sex Pistols’ God Save the Queen (1977) was performed on stage.

One of the greatest music festivals of all time was the Woodstock music and art fair at New York in 1969. Though it started out as a commercial venture, it turned into a youth movement. Placed at a time when the Vietnam War was at its peak and racial discord plagued the US, the festival, surprisingly, passed off without a riot.

New York Times journalist Barnard Collier recalls, “Every major Times editor up to and including executive editor James Reston insisted that the tenor of the story must be a social catastrophe in the making. It was difficult to persuade them that the relative lack of serious mischief and the fascinating cooperation, caring and politeness among so many people was the significant point.”

In Mumbai, the independence rock festival, a red-day on India’s rock calendar, was started when a local college’s administration refused a band’s entry to their culturals. Rock music, particularly punk rock, has been viewed as a subversive activity by conservatives. Punk rock is known for its fast and hard music with political and anti-establishment lyrics. Recently the Karnataka police banned live music in pubs.

Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam a.k.a. M.I.A., the British singer of Sri Lankan Tamil origin is known for her Tamil nationalist music videos like Paper Planes (2008), which, for a while, was banned in the United States. Her stage name M.I.A, which stands for Missing in Action, is inspired by her father A. R. Arulpragasam a.k.a. Arular, formerly of the banned Eelam Revolutionary Organisers. He was underground throughout M.I.A’s upbringing in the United Kingdom. M.I.A.’s fusion on Jamaican dancehall, break beats, electro and a myriad of other genres and sounds, firmly established her in the international independent music scene.

In India, Times Music released the protest music album Vyom in 2007. The album had Kabir`s dohas, Dushyant Kumar`s progressive poetry, Rajasthani womens’ folk songs, tribal songs of Narmada Valley and contemporary Punjabi satire.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) 2009 general election campaign album too had anti-establishment tracks like 100 mein 33 leke rahenge (We will take 33 per cent) on reservation for women and Mehengi Roti, Sasti Jaan (Costly food, Cheap Lives). This was Hindi rock music’s debut in electioneering in India.

The Internationale, one of the most recognisable songs of the world and the anthem for many socialist parties, has several translations in almost every language. It has been retranslated (the original was French) periodically, though the tune has largely remained the same. Laal in Pakistan, recently released their Urdu version of the song titled Jaago, Jaago, played with South Asian instruments like tablas and flutes. In doing so, they have resurrected the song for a wider audience in the subcontinent, while retaining the spirit of the original anthem. While music has always been a part of progressive politics, the current revival of this genre has opened vents for the angst of urban middle class youth. The internet has revolutionized the distribution of music and made it accessible globally. The use of fusion music and common themes like stateism, pollution and corporate greed has given this revival a universal audience.

“The order is rapidly fadin’. And the first one now will later be last, for the times they are a-changin”- from Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are a-Changin’ (1964)

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