Songs as History

They say, songs of a nation signify the thought of the nation and songs of a period signify the period. Mementoes of this truth can be found everywhere -scattered like the golden dust that was at some remote time of our history scattered on the beaches of Sind and still concentrated in a quantity and with a molarity that can only be defined by the fact that such must have been the thoughts of the people of that period.....

Furthermore, nothing attracts and impacts human mind and consciousness as deeply and as vividly as the song. Why? Because with a strong core and a vivid imagination, a song literally soars over the minds and takes the mind to realms that can only be imagined and not explained..... The song is indeed the opium of the consciousness and  as is said in Hindi:

Jahan Na Pahunche Ravi.... Wahan Pahunche Kavi!

(Where even the sunlights of the sun fail to penetrate, there also the lofty imagination of the poet can enter)

And so it is borne out.... even Religions as diverse and different from each other like Islam and Hinduism, have used the concept of poetry (the essence of a song) to further their claims.... Every Ayat in the Holy Quran is sheer poetry and so is every mantra in the Rig Veda a delightful song.....

Hindi Films have also not been uneffected by such emotions - the birth of independence and the lefting leanings of the early leaders of our country was well reflected not only in our movies such a Do Beegha Zameen (Bimal Roy), Hum Log (Zia Sarhadi), Mother India (Mehboob Khan), and Daera (K Asif) in Hindi, Meghe Dhake Taara (Rithwik Ghatak) and the Apu trilogy (Satyajit Ray) in Bengali and many other such movies but was also reflected in the music of the period...... And today, it's the music which is still ruling even when even classics as great as the aforementioned have been forgotten in the humdrum of normal life....

Lyrics by such great notables like Majrooh, Sahir, Shailendra and Kavi Pradeep are the greatest treasures that carry a deep story of the social scars and triumphs of those days, the ambitions and the disappointments of those times and the dreams and the realities of that era....

So while Kavi Pradeep goes ful throttle on the Partition and the Hindu-Muslim divide by such brilliant ditties like:

Aaj Ke Insaan Ko Kya Ho Gaya?
Iss Ka Puraana Pyaar Kahan Par Ho Gaya?

or,

Dekh Tere Sansaar Ki Haalat, Kya Hogi Bhagwaan!
Kitna Badal Gaya Insaan, Kitna Badal Gya Insaan!

one is forced to admit and admire the passion of the poet and also feel deep in his heart the anguish of a heart sundered by an artificial partition..... this is how the world will remember those days of the Indian Holocaust when more than 10 million people were sacrificed in the ceremonial fires that gave birth to two nations, each arising from the womb of it's mother, by killing the mother, much like the scorpion tears apart his mother's womb to live his own life......

Or look at Sahir as he talks about the disillusionment with the political scenario and society in 1957, in his celebrated song.....

Ye Mahlon, Ye Takhton, Ye Taajon Ki Duniya
Ye Daulat Ke Bhuke Rawaajon Ki Duniya
Ye Insaan Ke Dushman Samaajon Ki Duniya
Ye Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaaye To Kya Hai?

Can there be a more brilliant indictment of the society than the afore-mentioned? This is the voice of an idealist and this will signify what the dreams of the social revolutionaries was and how they looked at society.... But again it's the same poet that proudly celebrates the sovereignty and suzerainty of this country, while hoping that things will turn out better in this song from 1963

Ab Koi Gulshan Na Ujdhe, Ab Watan Aazaad Hai
Rooh Ganga Ki, Himalay Ka Badan Aazaad Hai

These are the songs that will remain in the consciousness of India as the faces of the Indian society and how people reacted to it in those days....

So there was frustration and there was hope, like in India, it has always been, both pessimism and optimism sleeping with each other, both these strands were fully entwined with each other and still independant....

It can only be the poet who can taunt even the high and mighty of the country... Sample this song by Gulzar from 1975, taunting the great Indira Gandhi herself of whom an acolyte called Baruah noted," Indira is India and India is Indira."

Salaam Kijiye Aali Janaab Aaye Hain,
Paanch Saalon Ka Dene Hisaab Aaye Hain

(A brilliant taunt on the politicians who meet once in 5 years like long-lost brothers and then disappear like some Indian version of the Halley's comet)

Even Nehru's policy of democracy and Patel's thoery of integration of princely states was shrewdly put in a song in 1956 by the irrepressible and great Shailendra, when he wrote.....

Honge Raaje, Raaj Kunwar, Hum Bigde Dil Shezaade
Hum Sinhasan Par Jaa Biatthen, Jab-Jab Karen Iraade

(A veiled but clear ultimatum to the princely states)

But the song that makes me smile, is the song that speaks about what an Indian is.... his spirit, his confidence and his self-assurance that even if today the world looks at him with derision, tomorrow, it will venerate him with dignity....

Mera Joota Hai Japani,
Ye Patloon English-Taani,
Sar Pe Laal Topi Rusi,
Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani

Today his shoes may be imported from Japan (accepting frankly that industries in this country are still undeveloped, Today even his shame may be wrapped by British fabric (alluding to years of subjugation and colonialism by Britain), Today his head may carry a Russian cap (alluding to those times when everyone was talking of socialism and communism and leftist ideology was the vogue.... Russia was trying to enforce it's politics and policies on India) still the heart that underlay the shoe, the cap and the pant was definitely Indian and would not brook any interference.....

India would develop as it wanted, as it desired and as it preferred