Arivu: A powerful voice of anti-caste and democratic resistance
Kiran Palathingal,
TYBSC, 2022-2023
"Good evening. Apologies for pausing the music. I'd like to say something and then continue... It doesn't matter if we are Tamilians or Indians or Malayalees. We are humans. Just humans...”
"Only humanity
lasts. Only humanity is permanent. We are one and humanity is the binding
force. I only wish to say that...”
He returns to the
song without a moment's gap, as if it was one continuous stream of thought.
“I’m the
descendant of this struggle. What? Are you calling me an Anti-Indian?”
At a time when reactionaries compete to
call each other anti-national for any serious criticism of the Union
government, let alone the Indian state, the song 'Anti-Indian' asks this
question upfront: “Are you calling me an Anti-Indian?” Several socio-political
issues in the country are brought up in a span of just over four minutes while
a vision of radical humanism echoes in each line. It is this same fearless
politics that we see in every song to his name. A writer, rapper, and playback
singer, Arivarasu Kalainesan, known as Arivu, is one of the leading voices of
the Tamil hip hop industry within a few years of his debut album. Yet it was
the success of ‘Enjoy Enjaami' that shot him to national and international
fame. While Enjoy Enjaami is celebrated, it is also depoliticised to an extent
that it becomes all-important to talk about it. Hailing from the Dalit
community in India and being the grandson of a migrant labourer in Sri Lanka,
Arivu writes about his community and pays tribute to his grandmother Valiamma
in the song. He talks about tea plantation workers who are robbed of their
land. ‘Enjoy Enjaami’ is resistance against caste and feudalism, and a
celebration of nature that is not anthropocentric, asserting how nature belongs
to non-human animals as well. In an interview with ‘The News Minute’, he talks
about the song:
“Usually all my songs
are political and I get a lot of criticism but somehow this song has earned
universal acceptance. But this song too is ‘politically loaded’. I talk about
people’s issues through the song. Maybe because I talk about the origins of
civilization, before caste and other discriminatory practices came into
existence, everyone could connect to it. But I am very happy with the song’s
wide reception. My ultimate aim is to bring people together and fight against
inequality.”
In spite of its massive success, the
song found itself engulfed in controversy very soon. The notable absence of
Arivu from the cover of DJ Snake’s Remix of the song, the cover of Rolling
Stones, and finally at a live performance of the song at the 44th Chess
Olympiad held in Chennai raised questions about Arivu’s erasure from his own
work. The fact that the original music video didn’t credit Arivu as the writer
came into the spotlight as well. In an Instagram post published on August
1, 2022, Arivu states that he wrote, composed, sang and performed the song.
“No doubt it's a
great team work. No doubt it calls everyone together. But it doesn't mean
that's not the history of Valliammal, or the landless tea plantation slave
ancestors of mine. Every song of mine will be having the scarmark of this
generational oppression”
Arivu ends the post with the hashtag of
#appropriationart. In a clarification post where the song's producer Santhosh
Narayanan attempts to play down the controversy, he calls ‘Enjoy Enjaami’ a
song that “glorified our roots and celebrated nature”, a disingenuous
description of a song that talks about a lot more. It was not just Arivu who
was being erased from his work, but the entire politics of the song. A work of
art that tackles caste and class head-on and makes those who hold power and
privilege uncomfortable, was appropriated to suit the interests of the same
elites. And this is nothing new in the history of art and politics. Individuals
from marginalized identities of race and gender have always had their work appropriated
or even stolen in its entirety by their more privileged counterparts. In India,
among many forms, inequality manifests itself primarily as caste, along with
gender. Oppressor castes have for long benefited monetarily and otherwise from
Bahujan labour in all fields. In art, we see the invisibilisation of caste in
mainstream cinema, music and literature. Taking into account all of this, it is
no surprise that Arivu, being one of the sole Ambedkarite voices in a Savarna
dominated industry, faces the same erasure. Arivu, however, is not willing to
bow down to this, as his interviews and the statement on ‘Enjoy Enjaami’ show.
And that by itself makes Arivu an important voice in present day anti-caste
resistance in the country.
‘Enjoy Enjami’ might be the song that
won him his fame, but it is just one among the multitude of songs Arivu has
created in a few years. The sheer range of social and political issues he talks
about through his work is notable. In an interview with ‘The Wire’, Arivu talks
about how he published his first poetry collection while being a college
student, and gained recognition, but was stopped from performing his own songs
because he didn’t have ‘formal training’. However, after being called up by
film director Pa. Ranjith to be a part of the ‘Casteless Collective’ there was
no looking back for him. The ‘Jai Bhim Anthem’- a tribute to Dr. Ambedkar,
‘Quota’, and ‘Vada Chennai’ were some of the songs written by Arivu as a part
of the ‘Casteless Collective’. ‘Vada Chennai’ talks about the working class of
North Chennai. They are the people that are kept away from the mainstream
media, people who are not called up to represent the city yet are its backbone.
‘Quota’ talks about the importance of reservation for achieving social justice
and the ridicule faced by students for availing reservation when it is their
unequivocal right.
“For generations you
have followed caste
I am studying for the
first time how can you steal it
Your forefathers kept
mine oppressed
Isn’t that why I am
given quota”
For ‘Kaala’ (a Pa. Ranjith directorial
starring Rajinikanth), Arivu pens lyrics for his first film. ‘Urimayai Meetpom’
calls for working class solidarity between different communities, asserts the
right to land which is threatened by the privileged class, and serves as an
anthem for protests for equality and self-respect.
“Emperors we are not,
slaves we are not
Like wild grass we
spread all over
Bow down and we won’t
survive
We refuse to die
without rights”
After ‘Kaala’, Arivu goes on to write
lyrics for commercial tracks in movies like ‘Soorarai Pottru’, ‘Jagame
Thandhiram’, ‘Sarpatta Parambarai’ and ‘Jai Bhim’, yet his debut album
‘Therukural’ (to which ‘Anti Indian’ belongs) is perhaps Arivu at his best. ‘Therukural’
is both a milestone in Tamil hip hop music and a powerful commentary on caste
and class in a manner that few would dare to attempt in a debut music album.
Teaming up with singer and producer Rohith Abraham (OFro), who calls it the
first and only political hip hop album in Tamil, Arivu writes songs on various
socio-political issues, each one ruthless at hitting where it should. ‘Kalla
Mouni’ is a satire on the hypocrisy of those involved in performative activism
as well as those in electoral politics who go back on their revolutionary
promises once in power. In ‘Anti-Indian’, Arivu talks about many contentious
issues of the last decade from demonetisation to NEET, and the broader issues
of class inequality, landlessness, Hindi imposition, and state apathy towards
the suffering of its citizens.
“I want only your tax
I don’t want your
tears
You are just a vote
The entire nation
comes at a price”
‘Snowlin’ pays tribute to Snowlin, a 17
year old girl who was shot dead in Thoothukudi for protesting against a
sterlite plant, and Asifa, an 8 year old who was raped and murdered in Kathua.
The song talks about how women, especially those from marginalized communities,
are treated by the country. A note at the end reads “This state divided us when
we were alive but united as at death. Because for the state, a voice of
dissent, whether it is that of a child, an adult or a young person must be
stifled. A voice of dissent must be killed. This is a letter from two souls
that were murdered by this state.”. Apart from ‘Therukural’, his work with the
‘Casteless Collective’ and writing songs for movies, Arivu has written and
performed ‘Sanda Seivom’, a protest song against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Arivu criticizes the act, asks pertinent questions about nationality and
citizenship, while asserting the importance of democracy, secularism, and
humanism. Arivu ends with a call to take it to the streets:
“Let us fight,
Come forward Tamizha,
let us fight,
In the streets, let
us fight,
United as one, let us
fight.
If our rights are
taken away, let us fight”
Being an artist from a marginalized
community, and making a mark in an industry dominated both culturally and
otherwise by oppressor castes and their politics is a bold statement against
the status quo. Arivu is a revolutionary of our times, one who is fearless in
his criticism of those in power, sharp in his commentary on social order, and
an integral part of the country’s anti-caste and democratic discourse that
gives us hope of a freer and more equal society.
References
Muralidharan, K. (2020, January 27). Meet Arivu,
Who Wants to Take Rap in India Back to Its Political Roots. The Wire. Retrieved
September 13, 2022, from https://thewire.in/the-arts/arivu-tamil-rap-anti-caa
Ganeshan, B. (2021, March 15). 'Enjoy Enjaami' is
as political as my other works: Singer-lyricist Arivu to TNM. The News Minute.
Retrieved September 13, 2022, from https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/enjoy-enjaami-political-my-other-works-singer-lyricist-arivu-tnm-145259
Arivu, [maajja]. (2021, March 7). Dhee ft. Arivu -
Enjoy Enjaami (Prod. Santhosh Narayanan) [Video]. Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYq7WapuDLU
The Casteless Collective, [The Casteless
Collective]. (2018, December 29). Quota- The Casteless Collective [Video].
Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Kfbc23ao8w
Narayanan S., [Wunderbar Films]. (2018, August 9).
Urimayai Meetpom - Video Song | Kaala (Tamil) | Rajinikanth | Pa Ranjith |
Santhosh Narayanan [Video]. Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdFq3-TQZy8
Arivu, [Madras Medai]. (2018, June 22). Arivu x
ofRO | Anti Indian | Madras Medai | Tamil Album Song Live | Therukural [Video].
Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldVe-28DVsQ
Arivu, [Arivu & The AmbassA]. (2020, January
14). Arivu - Sanda seivom | சண்ட செய்வோம் | MusicVideo | Therukural | Quazimode [Video]. Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGO_N-auw4k
Arivu, [The Casteless Collective]. (2019, May 22).
SNOWLIN | ARIVU X OFRO | THERUKURAL [Video]. Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSDu_aS6C1c
Therukural. (2022, August 1). [Photograph from
‘Enjoy Enjaami’ music video]. Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/p/CgsOLgVJZrI/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D
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