Mumbai Rapper A-List On Kabir Kala Manch

KKM member Sheetal Sathe Photo: Courtesy KKM Defence Committtee

I write this three days after Thursday, 20^th of June 2013, the most recent bail hearing for Sheetal Sathe, a cultural activist and singer of the group Kabir Kala Manch.  KKM are a group of singer-songwriters who have been accused of being Naxalites by the state. The bail hearing was in Bombay High Court and I was present along with a handful of journalists and activists. Also present was documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, whose film Jai Bhim Comrade featured Sheetal Sathe prominently.  The charges against KKM are being fought in court as we speak. That is the crux of why I, neither a journalist, nor an activist nor a documentary filmmaker find myself standing in Bombay High Court lending my solidarity to KKM.

As musicians, as poets, as artists we are all part of a very special community. We hail from all sorts of backgrounds. Some of us come from upper class homes and play urban genres like hip hop and heavy metal, while some come from grassroots street theatre traditions and sing folk songs. But what unites us all is we get up on a stage and we tell stories, we create a narrative. Some sing of love, some sing of revolution. We are the bards, the chroniclers of the times we live in. When you get past the egos and insecurities, we as musical artists share a very special bond with each other. Or we should.

This idea of a musical community that stands in solidarity with each other when faced with unconstitutional crackdowns on their freedom of speech is not a fantasy notion. When Russian punk group Pussy Riot was put in prison for their “controversial” music that asked uncomfortable questions, the music world outraged. Here’s a roll call of just some of the people who expressed solidarity for Pussy Riot: Bryan Adams, Beastie Boys, Green Day, Mark Knopfler, Courtney Love, Madonna, Paul McCartney, Moby, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Sting. I could go on. There’s a lot more where that came from.

It is that same spirit of solidarity that compels me to attend the court hearings of KKM, to record and release a song chronicling the injustice meted out to them. It is that same spirit of solidarity that compels me to write this article. As an indie musician, this is something that feels personal to me. They arrested a group of people for their music. What’s to say, they won’t arrest me tomorrow? Can you imagine a world where your gig could be interrupted by cops bursting in with a warrant for singing songs that make you a threat to the authorities? But I am getting ahead of myself. For the uninitiated, let’s take a brief look at KKM.

KKM has been around since 2002. It was formed in 2002 in Pune in the aftermath of the Gujarat genocide by a group of students and young professionals. Over the years, they have performed protest poetry and street plays in slums and streets across the state. Through music and poetry, KKM speak on social inequality, class-based exploitation, farmer suicides, female infanticide, Dalit killings and corruption. So far, they sound like just the thing an increasingly insipid and sanitised indie culture needs, don’t they? Well, the state disagrees. Despite never having never taken up arms or been involved in direct acts of violence against the state or otherwise, they have been labeled as Naxals by a state that seeks to criminalise dissent in the form of art.

Mumbai-based rapper Ashwini Mishra aka A-List Photo: Avni Murty

An uncritical mainstream media parroted the state in most coverage of KKM. They were always described as alleged Naxalites, never as poets or singers. There is much power in the politics of language after all.  I was first exposed to the work of KKM through Anand Patwardhan’s landmark film on Dalit oppression and the cultural resistance within the community, Jai Bhim Comrade. My first impression as a hip hop artist when I started getting familiar with their work was- “Tupac Shakur would approve.”

The group eschews traditional aesthetics for content, sort of like a folk-based Spoken Word. Listening to songs like Sheetal Sathe’s “Bhagat Singh Abhi Zinda Hain”, it was difficult to not be both impressed and inspired by the group.

I started rapping about KKM, dedicating one of my first protest music performances in Bombay in August 2012 to Deepak Dengle, one of the KKM members. At the time, Dengle and Siddharth Bhonsle were both in prison as undertrials. The rest of KKM was either underground or behind bars.

 The courts are not a friendly place for Dalit artists accused of being Naxalites. Dengle was finally released on bail after almost a year. A year. Not an acquittal. Just out on bail. In many ways, Sathe staying underground didn’t seem a bad idea. The system was clearly not on their side. 

Illustration: Shrujana Sridhar

So when Sathe and Sachin Mali (her husband and a KKM member), marched to Colaba police station flanked by members of KKM Defence Committee in early April, it was a game-changer of sorts. The media was quick to declare it a “surrender” but KKM called it their “satyagraha”. It was a leap of faith, reposing their faith in a democracy and a system that seemed to fail them.

 But it was also a statement of faith in us as civil society. In us, as members of a community of artists, bound by our common passion for music and poetry. Bail hearing after bail hearing has been sabotaged by a hostile state for Sathe who is now eight months pregnant. She was 6 months pregnant when she walked into Colaba police station. The bail hearing on the 20^th that I attended was refused on grounds that the state had not filed a reply yet. The next hearing is on June 27^th.

I will be in court on the 27^th again along with the few who have dedicated their time and energy to standing up for KKM. This could be Sheetal’s last chance of getting bail before she has to deliver her child. If this too fails, this woman will have to give birth to a child in judicial custody for the crime of telling the truth through her music. Let’s think about that for a minute. Let’s think about how that makes us feel, as artists. And if you feel what I feel, join me and let us stand up for KKM.

   Listen to the track “Free Kabir Kala Manch” by A-List produced by Srinagar-based producer Shyn9 below: