Week 10: Pavitra Naidu
Dalit Music
A simple google search to explore Dalit Music shocked. The underrepresentation of Dalit Music and Culture in Mainstream Cinema was evident. I was also surprised to see so many Dalit singers who had never engaged with their identity in order to assimilate with the upper-caste dominated Bollywood. Singers like kailash kher and Sonu Nigam were a few names I recognised that I did not know belonged to the Dalit caste. I also came across shailendra - a lyricist who did not let anyone know of his caste. His song, after his death published a book of his poems disclosed his caste identity as from cobbler community from Bihar, and then suddenly the famous song he had written- ther ja jaane wale- Boot Polish makes so much sense. The last stanza of the song is basically a mockery of the priest who also takes money for his services, and the songwriter finally says that they are equal now as slaves of money. Kailesh Kher's songs also seem to carry such subliminal messages on 'oneness' and 'one god' and how god is for everyone.
The song I chose for today's activity is MERA KI KASOOR by Ranjit Bawa. This song was recently released on 2 May 2020 and was drawn into controversy for being a song that hurt Hindu- sentiments. The singer apologised and took the song down. But observing this beautiful song makes us realise it is an anti-caste song, but the truth is casteism is so engrained in Hindusim that caste cannot be criticised without criticizing Hindu customs.
English translation: https://lyricsraag.com/mera-ki-kasoor-lyrics-ranjit-bawa/
A simple google search to explore Dalit Music shocked. The underrepresentation of Dalit Music and Culture in Mainstream Cinema was evident. I was also surprised to see so many Dalit singers who had never engaged with their identity in order to assimilate with the upper-caste dominated Bollywood. Singers like kailash kher and Sonu Nigam were a few names I recognised that I did not know belonged to the Dalit caste. I also came across shailendra - a lyricist who did not let anyone know of his caste. His song, after his death published a book of his poems disclosed his caste identity as from cobbler community from Bihar, and then suddenly the famous song he had written- ther ja jaane wale- Boot Polish makes so much sense. The last stanza of the song is basically a mockery of the priest who also takes money for his services, and the songwriter finally says that they are equal now as slaves of money. Kailesh Kher's songs also seem to carry such subliminal messages on 'oneness' and 'one god' and how god is for everyone.
The song I chose for today's activity is MERA KI KASOOR by Ranjit Bawa. This song was recently released on 2 May 2020 and was drawn into controversy for being a song that hurt Hindu- sentiments. The singer apologised and took the song down. But observing this beautiful song makes us realise it is an anti-caste song, but the truth is casteism is so engrained in Hindusim that caste cannot be criticised without criticizing Hindu customs.
English translation: https://lyricsraag.com/mera-ki-kasoor-lyrics-ranjit-bawa/
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