As Kerala gets ready to vote on April 26, many of the candidates contesting the election are using songs, ranging from rousing marching pieces and rap to lyrics set to popular film numbers, to reach out to voters.
Many reputed lyricists have been writing songs for their friends and acquaintances, irrespective of the political party they represent. Senior political leaders have also come out with verses for their candidates. Leading from the front is Communist Party of India (CPI) State secretary Binoy Viswam who has written two songs for candidates of the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
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“Since my college days, I have written songs for protests and marches. This time, I wrote one based on the logo of the CPI, ‘Arivalum, kathirumaanu ente chinnam... [sickle and corn is my symbol]’. That is when a mediaperson pointed out that it could only be used in four places in Kerala where CPI candidates are contesting,” says Mr. Viswam.
So, he wrote a second one, ‘Edathupaksham’, which exhorts voters to vote for the LDF and why. The song has been sung by Pandalam Balan and composed by advocate Gayathri Nair.
Senior Congress leader Pandalam Sudhakaran also has a way with words but this time he chose not to write songs due to a bereavement in his family. Instead, he says the Congress has turned to “professional lyricists to write for our candidates”.
Lyricists B.K. Harinarayanan and Santhosh Varma are said to have written a few numbers for the Congress. Mr. Harinarayanan points out he has written several pieces for his friends and acquaintances, including many for those in the LDF.
M.C. Couper’s rap for his friend Hibi Eden, fielded by the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Ernakulam, has gone viral. Composed, scored and sung by Mr. Couper, the song has become a rage among Mr. Eden’s supporters.
A shift from revolutionary songs
Another rap number that has gone viral is K.P. Aneesh’s ‘Vannotte, vannotte Vaseef vannotte (Let Vaseef win)’ for V. Vaseef, State president of the Democratic Youth Federation of India and LDF candidate from the Malappuram Lok Sabha constituency. Mr. Aneesh has also scored the music for the song. And the singer? “Well, he is a well-known rap singer but he wants to remain anonymous,” says Mr. Aneesh.
An area committee member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Perinthalmanna, Mr. Aneesh believes that the rap number will catch the attention of the youth. “I felt a change from the usual revolutionary songs will work among young voters. There is widespread discussion in Malappuram that the sitting Member of Parliament did not make his stand clear when it came to matters such as the triple talaq and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. I have used that in the song. With a few words, we have been able to convey what we want to say.”
In Thiruvananthapuram, where sitting MP Shashi Tharoor is fighting a three-cornered battle against Rajeev Chandrasekhar of the BJP and Pannian Ravindran of the LDF, the BJP has come up with several street plays and songs to draw the voters’ attention.
Tuned by music director Vinu Kiriyathu, the songs have been written by veteran theatre person Parmeswaran Kuriyathi. He says he has also written several street plays for the BJP to highlight the “failings of the State government and the UDF”.
Come April 26, and it will be clear whether the songs were indeed music to the ears of the voters.
