Whether it is the sound or the lyrics, time and again music has proved to create a ripple through its impact. Music hears no boundaries, no limits and no barricades when it comes to talking about issues that really matter.?
Back in the year 2020 when?Citizenship Amendment Bill became law - "Hum Dekhenge" by Faiz became the voice of the oppressed. The words portrayed via the music were so powerful that even now it has become the voice of defiance. But music became a major part of the protest held in Shaheen Bagh. Rappers from different parts of the country joined hands to speak about the then-burning issue and stood their ground with the protestors with the help of their verses.?
Now, when one talks about hip-hop and rap, this art form has emerged in its own unique way. For decades now, several artists taking forward this genre of music have made sure to shed light on issues that really matter to them, or to the people around them.?
One among them is Naveen Koomar. A New-Delhi based rapper who recently shifted base to Mumbai, Naveen likes to call himself a poet. ?This is because not only does he like to make music about the every day observations he makes but also because he makes sure to speak about social and political issues. Regarding the same, he said, "I have been passively conscious about the surroundings, the environment and the kind of politics that operates because it touches every one of us. But yeah, since childhood I had been doing theatre so it has remained since that period that I need to make communications on current topics and affairs."
"Other than that, I had been a writer and have been writing scripts and about issues via different jobs and work areas. So, I have always been connected to everything happening around me. I am not really trying to work on someone else's behalf. I write and sing about the issues that disturb me and make me sad. Or something compelling that I feel I should talk about."
He continued by saying how as a kid he lived in an idealistic world, where politics didn't really affect him. "I grew up watching Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan and had the first-hand experience of how the streets used to get empty when they used to air on television. This for me was the beginning of knowing Delhi. During that time, people in my community used to come together to celebrate a festival or an event. So, basically, as a kid, you had this impression that the world is very clean and a nice place to live in where everyone likes everyone."
"But when I grew up, I started realizing how politics plays a major role when it comes to changing one's thinking and mindset. How it creates differences and how it keeps changing over time. Even listening to the National anthem used to give me goosebumps but the significance isn't really the same anymore. So, I am just trying to preserve the India I saw through my own eyes via my music."?
Not just politics, Naveen's opinions about casteism too made him write his song 'Kab Tak Sahenge'. Regarding making this particular song, he added, "It was an outburst about how casteism is taking over. It is a disease which is eating the community slowly. I come from a community which isn't 'upper caste' per se. But like I said, as a kid you don't realize these things but when you go to college and get a job, the emphasis on caste and community is way too much no matter what you have accomplished in life.?
"When I realized that this by default will not leave me, that there is a fictitious aspect where one clan lives on the first floor and the other lives on the ground floor. That even after someone dies, the clan will stick to this system then I thought this is unnecessary. Even in every household, the utensils for the maids are kept separately. This is a plague. Even in offices and colleges, people very casually go for casteism and that gives you two options. Either ignore it or create a false identity. I have seen many doing the latter. They change their surnames to fit."?
So the song talked about how Dalits are treated as outcasts even now: How an elderly Dalit woman was reportedlynot given space in a crematorium or cases of how they are beaten up when they go to the temples.
Other than this, Naveen has come up with songs such as "Ranjha" which talks about India as seen through the eyes of a child versus now. The way things have changed so drastically. Another song called "Mudda Kya Hai" talks about the role of media in our society and the issues it tackles. Naveen questioned the TV debates, frivolous pop culture phenomena and how the real problems and matters are being shoved under the rug by the people in power.?
Overall, Naveen says that the fact that his music is helping even one person is what makes him feel like he is in the right direction. "I got a message from a boy saying how others used to harass him due to his caste and he used to change his route due to that fear. But after listening to the lyrics of 'Kab Tak Sahengey', he started taking the same route, faced his harassers and got the courage to face them."?
When asked if he would take the path of commercialism and take the road that other rappers in India are taking? He said, "Even though the algorithms work in a mysterious way, I don't think I can write lyrics and music that does not come from the heart. I talk about the issues and observations because I feel for them personally. So, just to get some numbers or popularity, I don't think that will change. The people who want to listen to my music and understand it are generally doing it. I recently opened a concert for Honey Singh in Delhi and even though we have very different music, I was happy to see how the same crowd was praising what I had to say too."? ??