Striking the Chord of Defiance

Written By: Sia Sirish Karanth

Edited By:  Aleena Sebastian

Graphic Design By: Sagarika Raju

The many streets of India, where the youth were protesting against the NEET paper leaks and demanding the Education Minister’s resignation, rang with the sound of music all around. People began doing impromptu performances and came up with slogans and anthems to further support the movement and involve more people. The art of creating music to send a message to world leaders and corporations itself empowers people in ways protests, demonstrations, and speeches cannot. Therefore, while protest music is most often used to support the protesters, it is also important to note that these pieces of media can have a standalone impact as well. 

Protest music has been a prevalent genre of music throughout history. It started and continues to remain as a medium by which one expresses feelings or thoughts that cannot be said in public settings. The song “Solidarity Forever” (The Almanac Singers, 1941/1915) became the anthem for the American labour movement and is still sung at Union gatherings today. Anti-war music is another sub-genre within it, including songs like “Blowing in the Wind” by Bob Dylan (Dylan, 1963), "Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival (Creedence Clearwater Revival, 1969), and John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance” (Plastic Ono Band, 1969), which was a song commonly played at anti-war rallies soon after its release. It can be argued that Hip-Hop is also protest music. The music is cheap to produce, easy to write, and not as technically challenging, so it quickly became a way for the common people to voice their opinions through a creative medium. The work of several hip-hop groups like N. W. A greatly enriched the protest music genre. Hip-hop also played an important role in the Gen-Z protest movement in Nepal, where rap battles, cyphers, and YouTube videos took over the movement and pulled in not only the locals but also international viewers.

An older protest song that resurfaced in light of recent events was “Burqa Blue”  by the Burka Band (The Burka Band, 2003). The band was made up of women from Afghanistan who covered themselves completely with burqas to ensure their anonymity. They sang about the imposition of the burqa on women of Afghanistan, and it went viral on social media to protest against the Taliban regime there and highlight the plight of women even after so many years. During the protests at Jantar Mantar, the song “Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna” (Dhawan, 1965/1921), which was an old freedom-struggle song, was sung as a symbol of defiance and revolutionary spirit. Both these examples represent cases of a revival of already existing songs and transforming the meaning behind them to support the current situations.

Delving into why protest music is so impactful: psychologically, the use of music in protests provides an outlet for catharsis and is also a more socially acceptable way of expressing dissent. It also serves as a way to connect people and build a common identity, which ultimately helps the cause being fought for. Another aspect to consider is the modern media landscape. A world that is getting more and more fragmented due to social media can also be brought together by it. The rapid spread of protest slogans and protest songs on social media can engage a wider audience that traditional media could never even touch. The speed at which this information is exchanged is also a major reason why virality is now sought after not only for influencers trying to earn their livelihood but also for protesters who want to make a change in the way they are being governed. 

As for the future of music in public protests and demonstrations, it is only bound to increase. It has been proven that the protests at Jantar Mantar and by the CJP have been effective in that their demand for the Union Education Minister to step down was considered, and action was taken upon. There are a couple of risks and potential pitfalls that could occur in this process. Firstly, the increased use of AI to generate viral, short, and easy earworm-type songs could be a challenge that has to be navigated; in all relevant cases, the voices of those directly or indirectly affected should be involved, rather than an AI model with no real-life experiences. Secondly, if social media platforms can actively see the kind of content being pushed out, they may indulge in unfair practices like shadowbanning or could trap people in echo chambers unless they escape or rewire their algorithms. Thirdly, older songs will continue to be relevant and have resurrections as and when protests about similar themes come up. It is important to be able to draw parallels between a song written decades prior, but listening to or performing it in the present has an entirely new meaning and interpretation. In conclusion, this quote by Martin Luther King Jr., as recorded in Jon Meacham's “Songs of America”:  "Songs are the soul of movement” is one of extreme comfort and depicts a tale as old as time itself: while music leads, people follow.