‘Artists must stick together’, says writer-director-actor Girish Karnad

October 5, 2012 12:00:00 AM ISTMTG editorial

The Jnanpith award-winning writer Girish Karnad presided at the Music CD release function that was organised for Kabir Kala Manch at the Marathi Patrakar Sangh in Mumbai on October 4. The function was organised by theKabir Kala Manch Defence Committee, which is protesting against the injustice the group has been facing.

Kabir Kala Manch is a group mainly consisting of Dalit students and professionals from Pune who have been creating awareness about social issues through their Shahiri, protest songs and street plays. The group however found itself implicated by the State of Maharastra for alleged links to Maoists and Naxalites. Two of the group’s members- Deepak Dengle and Siddharth Bhonsle are in prison while other singer-poets and members of the group like Sheetal Sathe are underground for fear that they too might be wrongly imprisoned.

Their CD album titled ‘Hi Amchi Gani – Amcha Gunha Kay?’ (‘These are our songs- What is our crime?’) makes for spirited music decked in folk-form and is a compilation of 11 songs from their earlier two albums.

Girish Karnad while speaking at the programme said that the State cannot wrongly implicate people on the basis of draconian laws such as the UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act). Upholding Lokmanya Tilak‘s quote that ‘Swaraj is my birthright’; the veteran artist added that rebellion is the right of every individual too. He also said that in these times, artists must stick together. Other invited guests included advocate Mihir Desai, IPS officer Sudhakar Suradkar, Comrade Reddy and Dolly Thakore.

Click here for Kabir Kala Manch’s Songs and Poems

For further information visit https://kabirkalamanch.wordpress.com/

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