India has been in the throes of a political, social, and civic crisis driven by the nationalist ideology of a communal majority. As mass mobilizations and resistance movements of unprecedented scales and intensities proliferate throughout the country today, what undeniably lies at the heart of the ongoing crisis of democracy is the discriminatory reality of a caste society.
Against this caste order, the Dalit subject is not merely a sociological identity that suffers this brutality, but a revolutionary one as declared by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the insurrectionary constitutionalist. Rejecting the violent thinking of a hindu (non)society of unequals – a society that attempts to lock inherited grades of difference into (caste) destiny – Dalit identifies the collective and unconditional thinking of a society of equals for constituting a new «common».
In an interview with The Wire, Yashica Dutt, author of Coming Out as Dalit, observes a shift from «mainstream discourse or pop-culture validating ‹upper› caste images» when she was growing up, to recent times which have been witness to a steady spate of emancipatory and powerful assertions by «Dalit directors, actors, musicians, and academics who are claiming their rightful place in the country’s history and culture». The list that follows is an attempt to turn towards and listen to such a multitude of recent unequivocal assertions in the field of music that declare a radical equality and commit their unwavering voices to the struggle for truth and justice. It is through listening to these scintillating resonances, egalitarian utterances, rhythms, and registers of sound, that we may be able to traverse the impasse of history and the contemporary moment.
Music: The Casteless Collective
Video: Pa. Ranjith, Neelam Productions
Track: Magizhchi (India, 2019)
The Casteless Collective is a 19 member band of hip-hop, rap, rock, folk musicians and «Gaana» singers (a form of ritual music associated with mourning) that was started by filmmaker Pa Ranjith and producer Tenma in 2017. The ensemble takes its name from the lexicon of 19th century anti-caste activist and writer Iyothee Thass. Their songs, composed and performed in Tamil, are incisive in their take on contemporary politics, caste, and class discrimination and minority rights.
Other than performing as an ensemble, the members are also producing their own albums and tracks. Isaivani, the only woman in the group at the moment, was recently featured in the «BBC’s 100 women 2020» list for her contributions to the age-old field of «Gaana music», a largely male-dominated space.
«Magizhchi», their debut music video, is Tamil for ineffable joy. The song moves through a vibrant dramatization interwoven into street performances and summons the revolutionary power of love and fraternity to exit the atrocities of a hindu caste society.
Music: Arivu & ofRo
Video: Ken Royson
Track: Kallamouni (India, 2019)
This song, a layered political satire, features Tamil rapper Arivu, who has been writing for The Casteless Collective. Together with producer Rohith «OfRo» they released the album Therakural in 2019. Kalamouni (sly silent fellow) zeroes in on the hypocrisy of the selective outrage or deliberate silence in the face of injustice and discrimination in the hashtag era. Choreographed against a vast landscape with stark red hues, it holds up a mirror to the complicity of us, the listeners, in structures of oppression that benefit from the liberal posturing.
Music: Ginni Mahi, Amar
Video: Yash Mahi
Track: Fan Baba Sahib Di (India, 2016)
A young Punjabi singer, Ginni Mahi (or Gurkanwal Bharti) made waves when only 17, with her phenomenal interweaving of Punjabi folk instrumentation and familiar tunes with no-holds-barred rap in her song «Danger Chamar», an expression of Dalit pride and a searing rejoinder to oppressive structures that thrive on invisibilising caste identity in order to keep perpetuating systemic violence. «I don’t want to talk of caste, I want to break it», she declared.
Her single «Fan Baba Sahib Di» (a fan of Baba Sahib Ambedkar), is an exuberant paean to the radical thinker of equality, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, whose emancipatory politics shaped the anti-caste movement. More recently, she proclaims her commitment to imagining a new world order led by the force of Ambedkarite thought in another ballad «Raaj Baba Sahib Da» (2018). The picturization of this single features the activated and political spaces of gathering and collectivity in Punjab, also alluding to the tradition of «Shabads» and religious hymns around which communities assemble.
Music: Sambhaji Bhagat, Sachin Mali, Sheetal Sathe
Video: Sambhaji Bhagat, Anusaya Arts
Track: Dear Democracy (India, 2017)
The Ambedkarite movement is closely affiliated with resistance music, in the form of the centuries-old tradition of «Shahiris» (Shahir as in poet, a largely Maharashtrian movement in its origin and influence), which transformed into Ambedkarite Jalsas (or public gatherings organized around performances), and was also disseminated via analog recorded media and later over digital mediums and internet-based platforms.
Within the contemporary practice of «Shahiri», the revolutionary music of Lokshahir Sambhaji Bhagat occupies a central place. A Dalit activist, composer, and playwright, he has been rendering the harsh complexities of caste and its implicit structural violence into powerful compositions and public performances.
The song «Dear Democracy» is directed by Sambhaji and hosted on the YouTube channel, «The War Beat», started by him. Written and recited by Sachin Mali and featuring Sheetal Sathe, it calls attention to the failures of democracy in upholding equality and minority struggles.
Music: FeniFina
Video: Jaden Lall
Track: Rukna Nahi (India, 2020)
The debut music video of Mumbai/ Toronto-based FeniFina aka Josefina D’souza, «Rukna Nahi» affirms the exigency to keep traversing the present, in an intent and resolute way. A multilingual composer, she employs a tenacious and experimental visual aesthetic as she dexterously moves between rapping in Hindi to Marathi, urging the listener to «not step, not bend, keep moving...while staying firm».
Another hard-hitting freeverse «Na Hai Insaaf, Na Hai Sukoon» (No Justice, No Peace) was released on Instagram as an urgent response to the appalling lack of justice and state apathy towards the mounting cases of caste violence in the country.