Towards the closing hours of the three-day anti-caste music festival Marghazhyil Makkalisai in Chennai, the stage lights brightened to reveal singers seated in the style of Carnatic music performances, a sight popular in Tamil Nadu at this time of year; the month of Margazhi. But this stage is no Brahminical space. The singers on stage, the band Arivu & the Ambassa, kicked off their first act with a tongue-in-cheek parody song that draws out the interconnectedness of Brahminism and Hindutva organisations like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sena (RSS). This is the first Chennai performance by hugely popular singer-songwriter Arivu’s new band and the crowds at Muthu Venakatasubrao Concert Hall were overjoyed when he finally took the stage.
Organised by director Pa Ranjith’s Neelam Cultural Centre, Marghazhyil Makkalisai, held between December 28 and 30, loosely translates to ‘people’s music in the month of Margazhi’. It is a deliberate counterpoint to the exclusionary spaces of the Carnatic music sabas. Singing traditions like oppari and gaana, and instruments like parai, and jamba drums – all segregated and looked down upon on the basis of caste– are celebrated here. This year, over a hundred music groups performed at the festival over its three-day course.
The third and final day of the festival, December 30, opened with songs penned by the late Dalit Subbaiah and performed by the group Viduathalai Kural with tracks such as Vellamudiyathavar Ambedkar. The song explains Dr BR Ambedkar’s opposition to Gandhism and to the Manusmriti–the Hindu text that codifies casteism into religious dogma. The Karithandhaan Kootam from Kerala had audiences singing along to Malayalam folk songs and put on a stunning display of Theyyam, a ritual art form of the state.
When the Thiruvannamalai Jamba Kullivinar played a variety of percussion instruments including the parai and jamba drums, viewers leapt to their feet and broke into dance. By the time the final performance by a collective of oppari artists rolled out, it was nearly 10 pm. Barely a few seats were occupied, but that is only because the majority of the packed hall gathered in the aisles to dance again. Oppari, in Tamil Nadu, is largely written off as the music of funerals and “inauspicious”. But the oppari and the accompanying drums, including the parai have a rich, indigenous history. At Margazhiyil Makkalisai, the singers explained this and demonstrated how there are also oppari songs mourning broken romances, for example.
It is this defiant celebration of cultures, segregated and misrepresented and oftentimes appropriated on the basis of caste, that Arivu referred to when he and his band took the stage. “What is the first thing oppression robs from us? It’s our happiness. Our joy is then our counterpunch.” His new band’s name, Ambassa means ‘ambathu paisa’ (50 paisa coin). Amid many explanations that Arivu dropped mid-song, one stood out: “Half for you and half for me, that’s equality.” They also sang a memorial song to Dalit Subbaiah who passed away this year before moving on to a reggae-style number called Valiammma Peraandi (Valiamma’s Grandson). Those who are aware of the erasure of Arivu’s family history and the history of indentured labour of Dalit and indigenous Tamil people in Sri Lanka’s tea plantations from the hit song Enjoy Enjaami will understand the resistance behind the title Valiamma Peraandi. To underscore the point, Arivu &The Ambassa put on a live performance of Enjoy Enjaami. The portions which Arivu had sung in his grandmother’s voice in the original as an oppari, he sang on the stage in Chennai again – this time an upbeat, joyful version as he danced across the stage.
The event ended with the felicitation of AP Ayyavu, Gaana Punniyar, and Ira Velu Aasan for their contributions to their respective fields. It’s to be noted that, Pa Ranjith highlighted the struggle behind pulling such an event together despite various venues, including those run by the state government turning them down. “I am aware of the criticism against us that we are doing identity politics. I don’t worry. I am here to tell everyone who I am. I cannot speak without mentioning this identity [Dalit]. I cannot hide what my existence is. This is a move towards liberation. I believe that those who understand that will stand with us,” he said.