By Shafeeq Hudawi, TwoCircles.net
Kozhikode: There is a chance that you may have heard ‘Native Bapa’. But in case you haven’t, we recommend that you first listen to it here. Because that is the key to understanding how some Malayalam artists are trying to go beyond the usual norms of independent music, using hard-hitting lyrics.
“One star in the star-studded sky. The sparkle in your shadow enfolds the eyes of this world. Why did you retire to bed after waking up the whole nation?”
The very first lines of ‘Funeral of a native son’ sung by activist and vocal artist Resmi pay tribute to Rohith Vemula. Indeed, the hip hop Malayalam song is all about sedition, being clamped by the state on students which tend to resist injustice, and about oppressive measures against resistance.
“Criticism, which keeps democracy intact, is not tolerated at all. State tends to resort into imposing sedition when voice is raised against it,” says Muhsin Parari, director of the video.
‘Funeral of a native son’ is the second part of the hip hop album ‘Native Bapa,’ the first of its kind in Malayalam. Released in 2013, Native Bappa narrated the plight of a hapless father whose son Kunju was killed in an encounter and was termed to be an anti-national. Malayalam cine artist Mamukkoya, Kunju’s father and the main character of ‘Native Bappa’, says that his wife didn’t want to see her son’s body as he was an anti-national. It also unravels how the Muslim youngsters were portrayed as terrorists and bomb makers.
‘Funeral of a Native Son,’ at the very beginning, features the nation-wide protests that followed death of Rohith Vemula and the state’s assaults against the protestors. Mamukkoya, who holds the leading role in the second part too, says that brave hearts are anti-national.
“Now, in newspapers, you don’t see my son Kunju’s photo. You see countless brave hearts, yes, those anti-nationals, he, you, your fellows, your friends,” he says.
Kunju’s father mocks that ‘even those angels on your shoulders are anti national.’
Kunju’s mother, who didn’t want to see her boy’s body for being anti national, has now changed her opinion, saying if gallantry is sedition then show me gallant boy.
The song criticises the selective justice which quenches the collective consciousness, implying to the hanging of Afzal Guru. It further hails Vemula for daring trishula and saffron by shouting Jai Bhim.
“I used to follow the developments in HCU while Rohith Vemula was expelled from hostel and launched a hunger strike,” Muhsin says. The shock, suffered by the director at his death, is yet to subside.
Public, even the director, are reluctant to question the sanctity of the state, its machinery and its military. “Democracy means right to criticise and evaluate. But, we are scared of it and its machinery. None of us dare to take on it even if it generates injustice,” Muhsin says.
The song, which is about four minutes long, ends with Mamukkoya lying in a burial ground where he, along with several others, pray for his son who was denied last prayers for being anti national.
Later, they dig graves with spiders. “I failed to pay last respect to my son. Now, you are asking for whom we are digging graves. If those, who chant Azadi and Inquilab are sent to graves and jails, the country is ready to go to graves and jails,” Kunju’s father says.
“Join us if you dare to tell the truth. If you keep mum you bury your own freedom. We will win our freedom,” he adds.
Later he calls upon the youngsters to take on the police, which stand as the symbol of the state.
“One star in the star studded sky. The sparkle in your shadow enfolds the eyes of this world. Why did you retire to bed after waking up the whole nation? The nation too feels your pain. Thousands bear your pain. The dream you see there is the one, we are shaping here,” Resmi’s sound touches its peak at the end of the song.
Leading young music director Bijibal is the music director while Shehnad Jalal has worked as cinematographer. The lyrics were jointly done by Muhsin Parari, Santhosh Varma and Haris.