These lines point out the implementation of the barbaric and blind-religious thoughts of lighting lamps, clapping sound and raising slogans could make rid of Coronavirus rather than resorting to scientific solutions. If this is implemented in Italy, the way of accepting it might be valued by their education and other scientific temper. But, in the case of India, it is viewed in a different manner. Our country is in a reverse flow. The authorities must be answerable to the statement of ringing bells, lighting lamps, and other odd activities in the midst of the health crisis. When they say it denotes unity, at the same time, then they could have shown their unity through building a casteless nation.
– Arivu
An interview with Arivarasu Kalainesan better known as ‘Therukural’, Tamil singer and rapper and the lyricist Arivu from The Casteless Collective band. They recently released an oddly titled ‘Vanakkam Virus’ a two-minute music video in the stir of the COVID-19 crisis. Arivu brings in a subaltern spin to fight against the virus and his sarcastic tone in this song seems to be a hell of a mock at the bell-ringing, pot-banging, lamp lighting methods of corona fighting.
How did you come up with the concept of making a music video based on COVID-19
pandemic?
After the outbreak of the Corona virus (COVID-19) pandemic in Tamil Nadu, many of them started doing songs, especially independent musicians. Those songs were intended to build awareness about this pandemic among the masses. Many people, including my friends, insisted on me producing a music video for the same purpose. But I thought of an entirely different content. I felt about making a song about the destitute people who are homeless, starving and struggling during this lock down. Because in every mishap that hits us, the working class are the ones who are affected the most and bears its brunt. But their innumerable difficulties and predicaments are mostly left unnoticed everywhere. Their difficulties are permanent, it was there even before corona, now it exacerbated.
Now everyone is aware of the pandemic, the difficulties but they still don’t bat an eye towards the struggle of the working class. That’s why I thought to speak up. Other than criticizing the government, now we have to cooperate with them and the government should also consider the perspective of these informal workforce.
I have seen videos of many people, especially migrant workers, including children in hunger and thirst walking hundreds of kilometres to reach their native place in North India. A country which is capable of initiating a policy within an hour, forget to deal with these human problems. So, as a common being, I thought that I should speak about this. So I penned this song to raise awareness about this tragedy and to raise an alarm about these heart-wrenching realities.
Can you brief the core of this song ‘Vanakkam Virus’ or what it is mainly targeted
at?
This two-minute music video goes more lyrically than visual metaphors. When it comes to my previous release, ‘Kallamouni’, which was based on the subject of atrocities of Hindutva and other political scenarios in the state. But this song is very open and palpable like a statement. Also at the end of the song it is insisted that we should stand together, we should support the government, we should appreciate the effort of our doctors. At the same time, the government should understand the problems of working-class people here. My main focus was to raise awareness and show the realities of this tragedy.
When the government asks to clap to show their gratitude towards doctors, some people are not strong enough to clap because of starvation. When they asked to light lamps, we should think about the working class who cannot even afford a candle to light. This is the reality of our nation.
You said that certain miserable incidents tend you to write and produce a song. Could you please share those incidents?
Yes, primarily the announcements of the government to stay safe inside the home to avoid corona infection. If the government recommends all the citizens to be inside the home, then what the homeless people are supposed to do?. The government is advising you to do exercise to stay healthy and use this lock-down time more productively. Whereas, they were silent about these informal workforce, who struggle to make their daily ends meet. So this tends to a class divide and class issue and makes us think that these precautions are made for the elite. Suppose if I am homeless, should I die because of the viral infection? This is a diverse nation with different classes of people. When the government asks to clap to show their gratitude towards doctors, some people are not strong enough to clap because of starvation. When they asked to light lamps, we should think about the working class who cannot even afford a candle to light. This is the reality of our nation. When problems are diverse in a nation like India and even economic situations are also diverse, implementing a single solution is implausible. I found this is unfair, so I wrote lyrics and released a song to convey my emotions.
As you said, beyond awareness the song lyrics tried to uncover the futility of right-wing politics like “Go Corona Go” a slogan raised by union minister Ramdas Athawale went viral and other deft activities like ringing bells, lighting lamps etc. Why do you choose these, and what is the tension it creates while mocking the authority?
The first thing that we should keep in our mind is, these authorities represent us, we only elected them. I think it is our right to ask questions and to criticize them. As an artist, I think I have the right to make a constructive criticism against the government but not to humiliate it. I won’t blatantly blame or criticize the authorities for no reason in my songs. I am not interested in getting my songs and myself celebrated or famed for simply blaming them. I go for facts first. You can see the difference now. We all know about the dangers of this deadly pandemic and the actions taken by the government. The crux of my song was a question of whether it reached everyone or not. For example, the masks or rice served through the public distribution centers. Here, utilizing this situation, the authorities are trying to brand themselves. This makes me enraged about the system around me. As an artist, I am expressing it. We are in a democratic state and everyone has to question the faults. I always make myself clear that I should criticize the government with valid facts and don’t go with random assumptions for songs.
You have mentioned the rapid spread of fake news than the virus, in the lyrics. Could you please make a comment?
Yes. This time also there were many rumors shared through social media. For example, migrant workers who had walked several kilometres to reach their hometown and one of the migrant families suicided on their way back. To some extent it is true but not the suicidal part. Some additional misinformation’s are added, and it is shared as fake news and makes us panic. Likewise, some controversies are created in Tamil Nadu targeting the Muslim community after the news of the gathering at Nizamuddin was shared through the media. This song also addresses the issues communalism and led to Islamophobic rhetoric like #CoronaJihad. Communalism made me more fearful than this deadly virus. If I share any fake news, I am also making a mistake. In Today’s scenario, anything can become more viral, even if it is shared from an account with fewer followers. It depends on the content and active social media participants. I have seen the sharing of such fake and misleading contents regarding COVID-19 and sensitized the Nizammudin issue. So I thought of mentioning this in a line in lyrics.
You have mentioned about these lyrics “aayiram varusha pazhaya moolaigal veliya varuthu
maniyaatta” (the thousand-year-old barbaric heads have shown out to ring bells) in the song. What are you trying to connect here?
I haven’t worked more metaphorically for this song. The entire lyrics in the song are direct statements. These lines point out the implementation of the barbaric and blind-religious thoughts of lighting lamps, clapping sound and raising slogans could make rid of Coronavirus rather than resorting to scientific solutions. If this is implemented in Italy, the way of accepting it might be valued by their education and other scientific temper. But, in the case of India, it is viewed in a different manner. Our country is in a reverse flow. The authorities must be answerable to the statement of ringing bells, lighting lamps, and other odd activities in the midst of the health crisis. When they say it denotes unity, at the same time, then they could have shown their unity through building a casteless nation. In my perspective this clapping, raising slogans against coronavirus is insane. It cannot bring either change or unity.
During this lockdown scenario, how did you manage to produce a music video?
Most of the viral videos of my songs are different from this piece. The random street performance will be the actual musical treat in my previous videos. Particularly in Hip Hop songs, the Rap and the content might reach the audience most. This video was shot by myself at home in Arakkonam on my phone. The music was produced by Anto Franklin in Kunnoor who sent me the beat first, then I recorded the video and song on my phone. Then both audio and video were sent to Sathya Tamizharsan in Chennai who edited and did the fine tuning. “I just lit a couple of candles inside my empty wardrobe, wore a surgical mask and turned on my front camera and shot this video. We three connected each other through the phone for this music video production. For this song, in this situation, we didn’t think about quality. We planned this song to post on Instagram and Twitter. Every household is affected by this. Let’s hope this lockdown ends soon, so we can go back to our normal lives.
Good.