바카라Chunav chinh haathi pe mohar lagai de,
Majhawan Vidhan Sabha se inko jitai de,
Pushplata Ji ko vidhayak banai de
[Stamp the election symbol elephant,
Make Pushpalata MLA
from Majhawan Vidhan Sabha]바카라
When Class X student Shiv Raksha got a call to write a song for BSP candidate Pushpalata Bind, contesting from Majhawan assembly seat under Mirzapur district, he got excited. It was in mid-February. He was briefed that the song must contain the name of the candidate, election symbol and appeal to vote. Raksha happily accepted the offer and wrote a song within half an hour. He was paid Rs 500 for his efforts, 바카라a good rate바카라 according to him. 바카라I바카라ve written songs for Rs 50-100 as well, so this was a good amount,바카라 he said.
In the run-up to this election season, a lot of young writers and singers did brisk business, creating songs and music for candidates. From commissioning to recording, these songs take just a few hours to produce. And the production cost rarely exceeds Rs 10,000. 바카라Some songs even cost Rs 2,500-3,000. If a song doesn바카라t have a video, then it involves only sound editing, recording, singing and writing charges,바카라 says Raksha. That바카라s the bottom end of the market, though the top end is not very high either.
Raksha has written several Bhojpuri songs in the past year. 바카라Writing doesn바카라t take much time, just a few minutes. I바카라ve been writing songs to fund my education for a year now. If I take more than a day to write a song, I won바카라t earn much. Work depends on the season, and election season is always big.바카라
바카라The type of work changes with the season. With the festival of Holi due in a week바카라s time, there will be demand for songs related to Holi.바카라 He adds, 바카라The lyrics depend on what the client wants. Some people ask to include husband-wife romance, some ask me to write on mutual attraction between sister-in-law and brother-in-law. For elections, clients want songs to include the party symbol and candidate바카라s name.바카라
What made this poll season stand out was that every candidate wanted not one, but several songs to be created for their campaign, perhaps out of fear of getting drowned out in the din. After all, they have seen how bigwigs encourage party workers and singers to create multiple songs in their praise. Among the singers, while Manoj Tiwari and Ravi Kishan were expectedly popular among BJP candidates, Samar Singh took the honours for the SP.
Outlook had earlier reported on how music was setting the tone of this election. The demand for songs from local musicians indicates the hyperlocal needs of the candidates. 바카라We had some songs already, but none in the name of our candidate. So we approached a Varanasi-based musician, who made three songs for us,바카라 says Abdus Sami Khan, an SP supporter from Nizamabad in Azamgarh.
Another songwriter, Santu Rakesh, who is based out of Kolkata, agrees. 바카라The most common demand among candidates is to include praise for their party, name of the candidate, and reference to the party symbol.바카라
He says every party has its campaign focal point. For instance, 바카라If the candidate is from the BJP, the names of Yogi [Adityanath], [PM] Modi, the Ram Temple have to be featured. For SP, it바카라s the party symbol (cycle) and names of Mulayam and Akhilesh, and for BSP, every lyric has to include Mayawati and Kanshi Ram.바카라
Superlatives are doled out by the handful. Like dharti putra (son of the soil) for Mulayam Singh, and Sultan (king), Baba (monk), Behen (sister), Sher (lion) for others. 바카라Singers are often party workers or hardcore supporters, so when they approach us, we don바카라t think twice before fulfilling their demand.바카라
Singer Abhishek Singh바카라whose claim to fame before becoming a campaign song regular was with songs oozing caste pride, like 바카라Bhumihar ki Holi바카라, 바카라Bhumihar ki Baraat바카라바카라started receiving offers since early February. He is also trying to establish a name for himself outside the bread-and-butter campaign songs. 바카라We create content for others as well as for our YouTube channel. Seasons, trends all add up when deciding what to write.바카라
바카라Candidates often don바카라t demand videos for campaign songs. If they do, we offer a full package바카라from writing to preparing a video for uploading. It costs around Rs 25-30k.바카라
This year, Deepak Lal Yadav, who turned into a professional singer and live performer five years ago, has written songs for Jaikishan, the SP candidate from Ghazipur, and Virendra Yadav, the SP candidate from Jangipur. He has also performed live in their respective constituencies. 바카라I support SP and write songs for them. So they invited me to sing their songs.바카라
Politicians always look for hummable, foot-tapping music to accompany their campaign. The meteoric rise of the Bhojpuri music industry over the last few years has created a new avenue for emerging musicians바카라even in the boondocks바카라to dabble into the market and eke a living. Inevitably, election seasons soon became happy hunting grounds for them.
Much like the Bhojpuri music industry, neither the audience nor the paymasters have expectations of high quality from these products, whose lifespan is no more than a month. So the songs are invariably poorly produced with tunes copied from popular Bollywood soundtracks, while the stodgy lyrics try hard to fit names and agendas into rhymes. A song by Nitish Bind that opens with praise for Akhilesh Yadav (the candidate represented SP), goes:
바카라Sukh-dukh ke hobe saathi
Kailash Chauriya ko vote de de chachi
[Vote for Kailash Chauriya, aunty,
He바카라ll stick with you through thick and thin].
Marshalling the medium
At a dhaba in Prayagraj, we chance upon 20-year-old Pradeep Sonkar humming the song 바카라Jo Ram ko laye hai, hum unko layenge [We바카라ll vote for him, who has brought Lord Ram] by Chandigarh-based singer Kanhaiya Mittal. Sonkar is Jatav, a Dalit caste바카라said to be BSP바카라s core vote bank, while the song he was singing is an unofficial theme for the ruling BJP. When we ask him what he likes in the song, he says, 바카라It바카라s being played everywhere, so I memorised it.바카라
ALSO READ: Media And Manipur: Courage Under Fire
He doesn바카라t reveal much about his voting preference, nor does he show any affinity towards the BJP, but his subconscious musical preference tallies with Marshall McLuhan바카라s proposition that 바카라the medium is the message바카라. The Canadian media theorist had explained that apart from the content of a message, 바카라the medium through which it is shared is also a message in itself, as it controls and shapes our association with it.바카라
Hema Sain, a researcher in Political Science at Delhi University, says, 바카라Music binds people together and keeps the spirit of a campaign high.바카라 The dialect in which a song is produced enhances its reach. 바카라These songs are not complex, rather, quite simple.바카라 The aim is to unite voters behind a candidate.
In other words, the music and the songs work as the medium to disseminate a candidate바카라s message in their constituency.
***
Several other singers, songwriters and composers confirmed what Outlook had already found out바카라that they don바카라t earn much from the work they do. 바카라The amounts we get are measly,바카라 says Mirzapur-based Bind. 바카라That바카라s why we put our work on YouTube.바카라
All the singers have at least one YouTube channel, on which they upload all the content they produce. 바카라I don바카라t get much from my own YouTube channel yet as I have just started. So I also sing and act on channels of more established performers that have more following and reach. Their owners pay me Rs 1,000-1,200 per video.바카라
ALSO READ: Dial M For Media: The New Muslim Voice
Relatively established singers like Deepak Lal Yadav and Abhishek Singh also earn from invites and events, apart from their YouTube channels that earn them a decent amount. Deepak says it is between Rs 5-15k, but doesn바카라t give exact figures. 바카라It depends on the event. I earn around Rs 10-12k from one, while from YouTube, earning depends on the number of hits and views a video gets.바카라
It may not be a lot, but in a state that is languishing at the bottom of all economic indices, it바카라s enough for survival.
(This appeared in the print edition as "Theme Song")
ALSO READ
