JAILHOUSE ROCK
Music and Musicians behind bars in India
Over the years, some amusing music experiments have been born within prison walls. When it comes to musicians in jails, the list will have a bazillion names. From unruly hipsters like Jim Morrison to activist-poets like rap group NWA, many musicians have gone to jail for their music or just their personality.
Sometimes, the reasons for being incarnated might be something like murder, destruction of public property or sexual abuse. So, let’s not delve towards that side. Most of the musicians in the US and Europe might go behind bars only for such notoriety but in modern times, musicians of the Third World mostly go to jail for political reasons.
Take the case of Vo Minh Tri, a major Vietnamese drummer who had to serve time for four years, only to be released in 2015. What was his crime? Writing politically sensitive songs. Similarly, Uighur singer and musician Abdurehim Heyit was mysteriously taken captive by Chinese authorities two years back and he’s still missing.
Such cases are present in India too. Kabir Kala Manch is a group of ten musicians from Pune whose songs often are marked by strong social messages and critique of the state. They often emphasise on the issues of communities that are socially and financially marginalised. But with the ‘antinational’ bandwagon in the country, this music troupe’s concerts started getting boycotted and three members were even arrested a few years back.
The Act which allows their imprisonment is the infamous 1967 Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. It has been called ‘draconian’ by many for how it has been used to imprison artists on exaggerated accusations of political criticism.
Some Indian artists have had other fruitful experiences in prison. Raghu Ram, the grey-bearded bassist of Indian roc outfit Indian Ocean is one of India’s most popular activist musicians. In the 90s, when Narmada Bachao Andolan was in full swing, Ram was imprisoned.
The public movement started to prevent the construction of hydro-projects on the river Narmada by the government as it would affect the local ecosystem and the Adivasis (tribals) would be dislocated. Behind bars, Ram wrote and composed a song called Chitu.
Chitu was about a tribal man called Chitu who was displaced due to government policy. What’s amusing is that the jail where Ram was housed; it was Chitu’s house once upon a time. Ram recalls that he sang the song with the prisoners and even the warden joined in!
But probably the biggest celebration of music in an Indian jail was helmed by the jazz-pop-rap band The Ska Vengers. It is one of those groups who makes jumpy dancey tunes but the lyrical content is much deeper and political. They have spoken against censorship and religious extremism but one of their members went to jail for not an ideological cause.
Their UK-origin keyboardist Stefan Kaye was jailed in Delhi’s Tihar Jail for overstaying his visa. There, he interacted with many prisoners and found out some of them might have even been innocent and imprisoned unjustly. As Kaye put it in his own words, ‘They were people who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, people who were branded Maoists despite negligible evidence’.
This gave birth to The Ska Venger’s 2012 concert in Tihar Jail. It turned out to be the largest rock concert to be held in a prison. The 2 lakh rupees raised in the show through tickets were used to buy musical instruments for the inmates. They even wished to start a music tuition program for the prisoners. The concert can still be seen as a unique Indian musical happening. Johnny Cash’s Folsom legacy was still alive, and maybe even better…