By Shiva Thorat, Twocircles.net
‘Rasik Maybapa tula bhetav jata jata ani evadhach sangav gata gata maj maran yav majh gan marananhi eikav’ (Audience you are everything for me, I should meet you before going. My only request is that should I die while singing a creation that should be heard by the death) he said in an interview in a local newspaper
Vitthal Gangaram Umap was born on July 15, 1931 at Naygaon, Mumbai. He was from a Matang caste and came from a poor family. His mother’s wish was he should take English education but class-caste situations prevented him from learning English. He worked as a school peon in the very early days of his career.
He had begun openly speaking and singing on Ambedkar at the age of eight. When Vitthal Umap was a child, Ambedkar was a contemporary, actively working with the masses. When he became slightly older, Vitthal Umap, also started to work for the society through his folksongs and Padnatya (Verse Dramas). These folksongs and padnatyas were use to mobilize the masses for anti-caste actions in a time when no digital devices had been invented. Adv. Raj Jadhav, who is known locally for taking on Dalit cases to the judiciary, said “When he (Umap) was at the stage his voice blossomed, in his dance there was smoothness, and when he was performing , an anger could be seen sparkling. He lamented for (lost) rationality’.
His home was set-up as a radical musical environment. This home was where he spent his whole life and it was not more than a small room in Vikhroli, Mumbai in which he raised his kids and taught them music. His two sons Sandesh and Nandesh are now famous singers in the Marathi and Hindi film industries. A lot of other creative people had been given homes by the government but it is seen that Vitthal Umap has been deliberately ignored by the government. “Reasons can be his caste or his creative radicalism that threatened the state structure.”, said Assistant Teacher Thakare. Teacher Thakare is famously known to have organised a program for the mass in Shirpur 15 years ago, where he had invited Vitthal Umap to perform his songs on Babasaheb Ambedkar. Nandesh Umap, his son said to TCN, “We have lost the “university of folksongs”, I don’t think so anyone can replace up what he meant to the cultural movement of Maharashtra. But at the same time, I have seen my father being treated badly by his contemporaries when he was alive”.
He had sweetness in his creation and when he presented Ambedkar Jalsa, folk songs sang in praise of Ambedkar. He is known to have said, “it is not the glorification of Babasaheb, but the glorification of the struggle of Babasaheb. Ambedkar Jalsa just not the celebration of the song but it is that labour which shows where exploitation is happening”.
(Image source – vitthalumap.com)
Vitthal Umap wrote more than a thousand folk songs in his life. He did work in 10 Marathi movies,among them a famous director Jabbar Patel’s, ‘Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’ ‘Tingya’ and ‘Vihir’ were major. He was an expert in various forms of folk singing. Powada, Bahurupi, Bharud, Bhajan, Gan-Gavlan, Lavni, Kavne, Tumbadi, Bobadi, Dhangari Geete, Vasudev, Dombari, Potraj, Gondhali came at ease to him. While most people generally spent their whole life learning only one of these forms, he knew them all! He had also learnt Qawwali and Ghazal to spread the word of rationality that obviously believes in equity and social justice.
In his song ‘Bobali Gavlan’ (Stammering Milkmaid) portrays how a milkmaid was treated in the time of Krishna. ‘Gavlan’ is a folk art form is famous performed a upper caste landlords’ homes during religious festivals. Vitthal Umap revolts against the stereotype depiction of Gavlan and make sure in his song that milkmaids’ oppressions are seen and heard. In the song he details how Yashoda (mother of krishna) and Krishna discriminated against the stammering milkmaid. Because of the radical nature of a message that could be seen as directly criticizing a beloved Hindu hero, this particular Gavlan received a lot of negative responses by religious Hindus and Hindu organizations.
He died because of heart attack at Dikshabhumi Nagpur while performing live. His last word was “Jaibhim!” to his mass audience