Violence, cuss words and aggression is rife in Punjabi songs as of now. So, can a governing body tame this growing culture? We find out

Sheetal

O ghaghre vi gaye

phulkariyan vi gaiyaan…

Ho ki banu duniya da

hen veteran singer Gurdas Maan and youth icon Diljit Dosanjh sang this song together in 2015, the future of Punjabi music looked bright. Not that it didn’t happen, but at the cost of losing the rich vocabulary. As Punjab’s CM Bhagwant Mann calls for stricter action on growing violence and gun culture in Punjabi songs, we seek the views of singers, lyricist and producers and also whether the formation of a governing body for Punjabi music would curb creative freedom?

Not the ideal way

Last year in January, singer and lyricist Shree Brar was arrested, while singer KS Makhan was held in Canada for praising gun culture and then Sidhu Moosewala was booked under the Arms Act. The controversial singer-turned-politician even went on to release the song Sanju, a day after his bail by a Sangrur court, comparing his case with that of the famous Sanjay Dutt.

Whither Punjabi culture?

Writer and poet Surjit Patar opines, “It’s not just the violence, repetition of words and music on limited subjects that is worrisome. Our singers are moving away from the culture Punjab represents. Punjabi music has rhythm; bhangra and dhol should go a step further with lyrics.” On the governing body debate, he adds, “Talks have been on for long, but no action has been taken as yet. As far as the creative freedom is concerned, banning songs or singers is not the only job such a body will have. The longterm goal should be to enhance the audiences’ taste in all the art forms by exposing them to good content.”

Rupinder Sandhu, owner of a music production company, says, “Besides enriching the content, artistes will be benefitted immensely through such a body. We all know how in Mumbai the local film board has set rates for their studios and functions. The same way, all the matters can be addressed here as well.”

Lyricist Gill Raunta has a different viewpoint. “We write what we observe. An artistes’ work is mirror to the society. Vailpuna and Hathyar are not new words; I won’t deny that songs leave an impression on people but the society also determines what is being written. More than the violence, the vulgar-vocabulary in songs is a bigger issue,” adds Gill.

Viewers’ choice

“Music is a creative art form. Some people will like the art, some won’t. The ones we don’t like, we can’t ban them,” believes music producer Sameer Singh Sandhu. He adds, “We always talk about movies like Godfather or Vastav or series like Narcos; they show violent stuff, but no one talks about banning them. Same goes for music. One can listen to artistes like Malkit Singh, Satinder Sartaaj, Jasbir Jassi and Gurdas Maan, who never sing anything related to violence.”

So, even if Punjabi music goes back to the old times in future, what is the guarantee that the audience won’t switch to Western hip-hop music, which has the same references? Only God knows!