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Rebels with a song

From The Beatles and John Lennon to Kendrick Lamar, these artists have one thing in common and that’s music. But what sets their music apart isn’t just beats and lyrics, it is the cause that they espouse.

Rebels with a song

Not just words: Singers like Eminem and Sia and bands like The Ska Vengers and Indian Ocean have both stirred the souls and struck the consciousness with their music



Srishti Millicent

From The Beatles and John Lennon to Kendrick Lamar, these artists have one thing in common and that’s music. But what sets their music apart isn’t just beats and lyrics, it is the cause that they espouse. It is a fight against the wrong. If we have had our own I’m a rebel in Rang De Basanti, where young boys defined their rules for life, there is Eminem’s latest anti-Trump rap dissing the American president.

All over the world, people are living horrors beyond imagination. They are fighting their own battles (and big ones) for their rights. To drive home the message, they are neither using pen nor sword, but music as their weapon. Sham Mcs, a hip hop trio from Syria, speaks of the tragic war their land is embroiled in. Influenced by the Nineties’ acts like Bone Thugs and Wu-Tang, it performs to traditional Middle Eastern instruments. During a recent interview, band member Mc Shaw explained one of their songs, Haween, thus: “It’s the simplest missile that is so easy make. They use it a lot in Syria and it hits citizens every week. One of our band members got injured by it while he was walking in the street one day. He is fine now, but it was a close call. He wanted to make a song around it and we did.”

Sia, the Australian singer famous for her song Cheap Thrills used music to condemn the Orlando Massacre where a gunman had opened fire at people in a gay nightclub. She dedicated her song The Greatest to the incident.

Our very own Indian Ocean is an example of expressing views through music. The band has been writing songs about Sufism, environmentalism and mythology since the 1990s and has won many a heart. Delhi-based The Ska Vengers is an Indian activist band that has long been ranting against the oppressive and rigid views of the government. The core band consists of Stefan Kaye, Delhi Sultanate, Begum X, ‘The Late’ Nikhil Vasudevan, Chaitanya Bhalla ‘Chaz’ and Tony Guinard. Together, they have introduced a new genre in the country known as ‘ska’. When asked how they see music’s contribution to save the society, Ska Vengers say, “Music cannot save the society or the world. That can only be achieved through direct political action and concerted effort to change the way society is organised. All that music can do is to bring people together, articulate feelings of disaffection and dissent and express solidarity.”

But songs do change course of history. Bruce Springsteen once said, “Bob freed your mind the way Elvis freed your body. He showed us that just because music was innately physical did not mean it was anti-intellectual.” And he did that with Blowin’ in the wind, with Hard Rain...

Bhanuj Kappal, a music expert, says music, like any art form, is about a lot of things, but it is also about holding a mirror to the society. “Not just politically, but also socially and culturally. A lot of that is not expressed in a political manner is also political because the person is political. It is impossible to escape from politics when you are talking about arts because even being apolitical is a political stand. There’s nothing wrong in using art to put up political points and talking about the problems in a democracy.” Here’s to the rebels and their songs.

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