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Journalism of Courage
It was in Arakkonam, the sweltry railway town about 60 km from Chennai, that Tamil rapper Arivarasu Kalainesan, better known as Arivu, saw for the first time what it meant to be a Dalit in India.
His poor scores in class led one of the teachers to berate him with a speech about ‘his place in society’ and told him that education was not for those who belonged to lower castes. The boy wept, his young mind trying to decipher the complicated social hierarchies around him.
The first resistance to this discrimination came from his grandmother, Valliamma, who had once been a labourer in Sri Lanka’s tea estates, living there under harsh conditions and even harsher supervisors, and was repatriated to India in the ’60s after Sri Lanka got independence and declared that those who migrated from India during the colonial rule were now stateless. Once back and displaced, she, like others from her community, was subject to massive caste discrimination and poverty. Arivu speaks of his ancestors not being able to walk on the common road or wear slippers while walking on the dominant streets. When Valliamma heard about her grandson, she marched into the school and contested: “We are all the same by birth,” so how was her grandson being told that “education was not for him because he belonged to a certain caste”?
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“She said something very political with that one sentence, even though she never went to school. She has always had a certain awareness of what’s significant. The power of my grandmother, who came and stood up for me, was inspiring. When I walk on the common streets today or travel in a car, with confidence, I know that the struggle behind this is that of my ancestors,” says Arivu, 31, whose latest album, the 12-song Valliamma Peraandi: Volume 1 (Sony Music), speaks of caste, discrimination, struggle and untouchability. It is also a tribute to Valliamma, who is proudly placed alongside the musician on the album cover. “I’m trying to be more free musically, and I end up sounding only more political,” says Arivu. The album is also his experiment with independent space in the Tamil music scene, which is mostly dominated by and dependent on film music.
This Sunday (September 1), Arivu along with his troupe — The Ambassa Band — will perform songs from this new album at South Side Story, a two-day festival, organised by Red FM to showcase the diverse heritage of south India in the Capital. Others artistes at the festival include Carnatic classical vocalist TM Krishna, popular Kerala rock band Thaikuddam Bridge, Malayalam playback singer Nithya Mammen and Bengaluru-based contemporary progressive rock band Agam. On his visit to Delhi last year, Arivu was doubtful whether north Indians would understand his lyrics. “But when it came to rhythm and sound, language didn’t matter. The love was immense,” says Arivu.
Arivu’s popularity largely harks back to the viral song and video Enjoy Enjaami (2021) — the rapper’s collaboration with singer Dhee and producer Santhosh Narayanan under AR Rahman’s independent music label, maajja. He had also been singing with The Casteless Collective, a Chennai-based indie band founded by filmmaker Pa Ranjith, where the ensemble explored themes of caste, oppression and education.
Enjoy Enjaami came with clear political undertones. It spoke of the connection between land and people, how labourers nurture the earth and later are asked to leave and work elsewhere. It came from the story of his grandmother: My garden is flourishing / Yet my throat remains dry…
The solid rap in the piece is slick and then merges into the Oppari style of singing, a mourning ritual practised by a Dalit sub-caste in Tamil Nadu. “The wails had haunted me even as a child; the feeling of agony they carry. It was also a way for our mothers to vent. I have decided to turn this agony into rap. Even though the language differs, the land differs, this pain is universal,” says Arivu, who began writing poetry on caste in school but political consciousness evolved in college, especially during MBA days when he met Ranjith and joined The Casteless Collective almost a decade ago.
While Enjoy Enjaami received over 450 million views, it was also embroiled in a controversy over credit. After a remix was released by Dhee and DJ Snake, which did not feature Arivu, Dhee along with Kidakuzhi Mariyammal performed the song at the opening ceremony of the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai, where Narayanan was credited as the composer. Arivu claimed to have written and composed the piece. While all three came out with their statements on the matter, the story shifted from credit to cultural appropriation of the Dalit struggle. “It is actually the society that allows this. We are taken for granted. Our culture, our art, our life is taken for granted,” says Arivu.
He says that it is caste that has led him to become a product of politics. “Knowingly or unknowingly we are representing our land and our culture. It was later that I realised that the privilege of education came through the struggle of my parents and grandparents. The trade we do, the food we eat, everything is political,” says Arivu, who grew up “without any entertainment” in life. But there were always folk songs, which people sang at births, weddings, deaths and in the fields while tilling the land. He gradually discovered that folk music and hip-hop had an intrinsic connection.
“Folk music is the rap of Tamil culture. It has that same rhythmic ability, the wordplay. The swag and accent have been imported from Western music. But the origins of hip-hop are all in protest music. In our land folk music carries the protest culture,” says Arivu.
But much of his music education came through Ambedkarite songs by writer and singer Dalit Subbaiah. Arivu heard him through rural folk singers. “You could digest an Ambedkar concept very easily with Dalit Subbaiah’s writings. I am here because of artistes like him,” says Arivu, adding, “We are judged by identity. It’s our right to be free, to be accepted. And because I am saved, it does not mean that everyone is. I want to connect with other people and their love should come through an understanding of our culture, our history. My music is a small contribution to this greater revolution.”
