Malavika Prasanna - Week 10

DALIT MUSIC: IN THE MARGINS AND IN THE MAINSTREAM

We people always imagine that the lives of the lower class and the lower castes are full of misery – that their songs and stories are only of pain and suffering. But Arivu, a Tamil Dalit rapper who is part of The Casteless Collective, remarked that “It is not only about pain. Ranjith once told me we should not only dwell on the pain of the minorities but also on their triumphs, their victories.”[1]

Neither I nor Arivu (I’m sure) mean to assert that there is no pain. But the implication is that communities have now come to own their music and arts with pride. They sing of their lives, their romance, their pain and their politics, and of course, their Ayya (Ambedkar). The interesting facet of anti-caste music peculiar to Tamil Nadu is that it exists in the margins as well as in the mainstream.

In most parts of India, several artists from lower caste communities refrain from singing about their identities for fear of being singled out. In cases when they do sing about it, it becomes a critically acclaimed album or niche independent music which doesn’t necessarily make it into popular media. In Tamil Nadu, however, anti-case music exists in the non-mainstream, like that of Arivu and the Casteless Collective, but also in Kollywood movies starring immensely loved starts such as Rajnikanth (in Kaala), Dhanush (in Asuran) and the alike. The richness of the music and their associated movies are definitely worth understanding.


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