CREATING FEMINIST SONGS, VOICING DISSENT AND DEMANDING EQUALITY

WORKSHOP BY RAAG

ON CREATING FEMINIST SONGS, VOICING DISSENT AND DEMANDING EQUALITY

-RIYA BINOJ

The Women’s Study Centre in collaboration with RAAG group conducted a workshop on creating feminist songs, emphasizing the importance of voicing dissent and demanding equality for all, on 27^th September 2019. “RAAG: Revolution, Aazadi aur Aman ke Geet” is a feminist singing group that uses Bollywood style to keep alive the spirit of dissent. The workshop saw attendance of students from diverse disciplines, all linked by the common thread of being a feminist. 

The workshop began with Ms. Shreya Ghosh, Vice President of Women’s Study Centre, introducing RAAG to the students. Subsequently, the members introduced themselves to the audience. A beautiful rendition of Sona Mohapatra’s “Bekhauff” was performed by the cultural team of WSC. Through the musical piece, the team wonderfully verbalized the oppressed individuals’ desire for freedom without fear. RAAG broke ice with the audience by asking them about their expectations from the workshop. Many students then expressed their desire to learn more about using music as a medium of feminist movement. After addressing the points raised by the students, RAAG proceeded to share the origin of their existence. The group was founded in 2015 in Delhi by individuals who believed that music can be used as a means of social and political movement. They also emphasized how songs portraying dissent can be used to spread awareness about atrocities committed in the world today. According to them, topics such as harmony, communism, patriarchy, casteism and fascism can be debated through the medium of music.

RAAG then explained the process of creating songs. They informed the students that sometimes they used songs composed previously, unedited, change a couplet or completely transform the lyrics. Few stanzas of songs such as “Hum honge Kamyab”, “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil”, Hindu Bol, Muslim Bol”, “ Sau mein Sattar Aur the” were enthusiastically sung by everyone present. They were of the belief that movement songs should not be subject to copyright. According to them, these are songs of solidarity and should be used to nullify differences. Barriers which are linguistic, regional, cultural and religious in nature have to be ruptured if we want to be united against the evils existing in society today. The workshop was highly interactive with the group consciously making an effort by asking students to voice their perspectives. The participants when asked about their views on song-making, expressed that the songs need to be catchy and should resonate with individuals on a personal level. The facilitators then added that the most important factor of creating any movement song is the inner conviction of the song-writer regarding the theme. They also emphasized that humour and satire, when used appropriately, can work wonders. RAAG stated that according to them, a non-judgmental space is essential during the process. Rap, as a medium of protest, was also discussed in detail.

The notion that most popular movement songs throughout history were written by men was also highlighted. A participant pointed out that there might have been women song-writers as well but they have been unable to garner the same degree of attention awarded to men. Even if such songs became popular among the masses, the women song-writers were rarely given credit for the same. Another student expressed that factors such as access to education and economic freedom need to be taken into account as well. Towards the end of the discussion, however, another participant provided a distinct perspective. According to her, even though many songs written by women were not mainstream in nature, they have been immortalized in folklore.

The singing group then divided the workshop participants into groups who were then assigned a mentor. They shared their own experiences before joining the group and stated that many of them are not even trained singers. They encouraged the groups to compose a song. Before writing the lyrics, warm-up exercises were conducted. One of the exercises involved each participant making a common sound which was then repeated by the next participant, followed by the utterance of a new sound. Another activity that was encouraged involved each participant listing out a topic important to her and then linking the term to three random words. The groups then narrowed down on one topic and then incorporated the applicable words in the lyrics. When all the groups had successfully composed a song, they were asked to sing it for the rest of the audience. The themes, choice of words and rhythm chosen by the students were also discussed.

RAAG then performed some of the movement songs, a couple of which were composed by them, with students enthusiastically singing along. The atmosphere in the hall was electrifying with participants tapping their foot to the beat. After the performance, the guests were facilitated with a token of appreciation and were thanked for their time, effort and for sharing their expertise. The workshop then came to a close and all the participants were offered refreshments. On the all, the workshop was a huge success thanks to the active participation of the students, the thought-provoking themes addressed and the touching performance led by RAAG.