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A S Ajith Kumar
Jukebox Diaries-1
I was thrilled because the concept itself was interesting and quite strange. The songs were for the market in France! So I was going to make music for an audience totally unfamiliar to me. Karim Miske, a Senegalese French man who had innovative ideas in music and deep insight about politics of music was the producer. He had already released two albums of the renowned Senegalese singer Fou Malad. Our idea was to make a Dalit ‘folk’ – Hiphop album. I discussed the idea with my friends and one of them wrote the lyrics with ‘obsolete’ languages of the Pana and Paraya communities of Kerala and also Malayalam and English (Karim would later add French lyrics in Fou Malad’s voice)
BGM was created using a computer. My plan was to escape from the essentialist ideas about `folk’ music and create a style that would engage with the present. Obviously, the work was challenging. Being a Dalit musician I always had to engage with caste. There had been many instances when I had thought “yes they will soon know you are a Dalit and that will affect the work”. In some places I try to conceal my Dalit identity and some places reveal it .A dalit has to play a lot more games to survive. Remix of a rebel song about temple entry. Vocal: Pushpavathi, A S Ajithkumar One day, while I was studying at the Trivandrum Govt Music College, our Tamil Brahmin teacher asked me to play mridangam lessons. I played, but it didn’t come out well. He looked at me disgustedly and asked “do you receive stipend?”(We used to get monthly stipend and an annual lump sum grant from the State. In schools teachers would announce that the “stipend is being issued from office, tell your parents to come and collect”. This proclamation always’ betrayed’ many hidden identities and standing in the queue for the stipend was another bitter experience. I had asked my parents why we get money from school and they would smile. These days I smile when my sister’s daughter ask the same question) I was not sure whether the stipend had anything to do with my mridangam performance on a particular day. I replied “yes” and he said “no wonder”. 18 comments to Jukebox Diaries-1 |
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June 24th, 2009 at 11:51 AM
Hello! This is a REALLY interesting project. I’m very happy and excited that you are looking forward to rooting this in a context in the present. Congratulations on that.
I myself love music so I would like to give you some feedback about the song itself.
I think you need to experiment a little more with the ‘remix’ potential of this song. It definitely is an interesting listen, but that’s BECAUSE I KNOW who you are. If not, this music would mean nothing to me.
I know this is the first song but I thought that it might be important to tell you that there needs to be a bigger connect with the dalit song and the hip hop strains. Right now its still a bit scratchily blended together.
Keep up the good work.
Am looking forward to many more songs like this
June 28th, 2009 at 9:25 PM
dear ajith n pushpavathi,
fabulous project (chanced on it today while i was googling meenkulam). feel that the project could well be elaborated into a longer version – may be as a collaborative attempt (in lyrics and music). will appreciate if u could send/publish the malayalam/english transcript of the lyrics.
soman
soman.youn@ymail.com
July 1st, 2009 at 9:39 AM
Thought this would interest you.
‘Insight Editorial Collective is pleased to inform you about the launching of the website for our Dalit youth magazine ‘Insight Young Voices’.
- The URL for the sites are as follows:-
* http://insightyv.com/ – [The main site will have the latest issues of our magazine and will double up as an e-resource center for Dalit and Tribal students and act as a platform for providing mentorship as well as information regarding various scholarships, admissions and career opportunities]
* http://archive.insightyv.com/ – [Top ten past issues of our magazine like Caste and Gender, Caste and Nationalism, Caste and Atrocities have been uploaded and can be accessed by our readers]
* http://blog.insightyv.com/ – [ We have also started a blog called 'Round Table' where our 22 member team will be posting their views, analysis, creative writings on different contemporary issues. We are aiming to develop this blog as a site to generate discussions and debates on these issues.]‘