Several young musicians have given a background score to the Anna movement with their songs and anthems Thirty-year-old Dilliwala Nitin Dawar,an eminent singer affiliated to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living group,is in unusually high spirits these days,despite being perched on the podium at Ramlila Maidan for long hours. At 9pm on Wednesday night,with an electric guitar in his hand and a dholak as an accompaniment,Dawar,who had stayed up there for about 10 hours,laughed off the deep tan and beads of sweat trickling down his face. It's very hot and I have a tan. But I don't feel very tired. People's enthusiasm has kept my spirits high, he said. Plus I meditate, he added. Dawar is one of several musicians who have captured the moment through their compositions - composing the famous Lokpal anthem - Lokpal,Lokpal,pass karo Janlokpal . This is an independent composition I had created on January 29 when the issue had started brewing,and honestly,I had never expected this kind of response. I have seen an eight-year-old girl dancing to this song,and an 80-year-old grandma dancing and singing Lokpal,Lokpal , he said,adding,"I felt someone should take responsibility to make the term 'Lokpal' famous and common,since not many knew about it. My aim was to familiarise people with the issue. A similar anthem has youngsters raving over it on social networking sites. Twenty-one-year-old graduate from Hindu College,Nickk,who swears by this 'brand name' rather than his real one,launched his version of Vande Mataram on August 15,and made it available for free download later. With a few Bollywood songs up his sleeves,the pop-rock crooner already has 20,000 followers on the Vande Mataram Facebook page. This is my take on Vande Mataram,a more modern version. Youth need something contemporary to drive them - be it slogans or songs," he said. It took him two days to compose the song,but Nickkk now boasts of more than 4000 downloads till date and an ever-increasing following on social networking websites. Since I am a musician and I also am part of the youth of this country,I think I have made my contribution to the movement," he added. Then there is Mumbai-based indie-rapper Krishna Kaul,best known as Young Prozpkt,whose previous hit Kaisa Mera Desh ,the 'unofficial CWG anthem' attacking the messy affair,ranked at number 3 on Youtube. On Tuesday,he launched a song on the Lokpal issue. This is a shorter composition which was launched online. It focusses on the Lokpal issue and the government's dilemmas around it," he said. The song is called The Lokpal Free Style,sung in a rap style . " The youth will naturally catch it faster because they are well-acquainted with this genre, he added. Bollywood singer Kailash Kher also landed in Ramlila Maidan four days ago,and his brief,20-minute performance left the supporters asking for more. But for Kher,the issue has a deeper emotional meaning for him. I had created a song Ambar tak yehi naara goonjega,when Anna fasted in the first week of April. I had just come to know about Anna Hazare and his cause and decided to dedicate a song to him. I have neither praised nor condemned anyone. It's not against government,but against corruption," he said. In fact,before this song had reached any one of you,it was already there in Ralegaon Siddhi,sung in their schools as prayers, he added.
