‘Haan haan Naxali,’ asserts Aman Kachchap, a 25-year-old Adivasi rapper from Jharkhand, who has turned the supposed ‘insult’ thrown at him by fellow students in a Ranchi school on its head, owning it as a tag often attached to the tribal community.
“I have tried to explain to the society that if one talks about one’s rights: water, forest land, then one is called Naxalite. And if this is so, then yes, I am a Naxal,” Kachchap tells Outlook’s Md. Asghar Khan, also reciting parts of his verse, written in the Nagpuri dialect of Jharkhand.
“I have tried to explain to the society that if one talks about one’s rights: water, forest land, then one is called Naxalite. And if this is so, then yes, I am a Naxal,” Kachchap tells Outlook’s Md. Asghar Khan, also reciting parts of his verse, written in the Nagpuri dialect of Jharkhand.
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00:00 Hi, my name is Asghar and I am in Ghagra Basti, Ranchi.
00:04 This place is in Nagarnigam but when you see behind me, it will look like you are in a jungle.
00:12 And we have Aman Kachchap with us to talk to us.
00:15 Aman Kachchap is a tribal youth.
00:18 Actually, Aman Kachchap is a rapper. He is 25 years old.
00:22 And at this age, you will find many rappers.
00:24 But the question is why did I come to talk to Aman Kachchap?
00:29 The reason is that Aman Kachchap writes his own rap.
00:35 And his rap has a Jharkhandi flavor.
00:39 It is about the jungle.
00:41 He shows the jungle through his rap.
00:45 Before I know why you came to this field and why you chose the world of rap,
00:55 I want to know that you wrote a rap about Naxalism.
01:04 So when people hear it, who do not know the Nagpuri language,
01:09 they will think that it is promoting Naxalism.
01:14 So I want you to sing that song first.
01:18 What is that rap?
01:20 And what do you want to say through that rap?
01:22 Is it promoting Naxalism or you want to say something else?
01:27 Yes.
01:28 First of all, I want to say that this song is written by a Naxali.
01:33 The lyrics are like this.
01:35 [Rap]
02:04 [Rap]
02:10 Please explain this.
02:12 You are speaking in Nagpuri.
02:14 What does it mean?
02:16 When I was a kid, my school friends used to call us Naxali.
02:23 And my friends who used to go from here,
02:27 we did not understand what they were saying.
02:30 What is Naxali?
02:32 You were saying that your school friends used to call you Naxali when you were a tribal.
02:38 Yes.
02:39 We used to call them Naxali, but we did not understand why they were calling us Naxali.
02:45 Then as I grew up, I came to know why the word Naxali is defined.
02:51 Then I thought that if they are calling us Naxali, then it is fine.
02:56 Even if it is Naxali, we will keep our language.
03:00 So I made a line, "Naxali Naxali,
03:05 Kuch bolo to kaho na Naxali,
03:07 Haq mongo to kaho na Naxali,
03:09 Saans lebe to kaho na Naxali,
03:11 Jan le ke kaho na Naxali."
03:13 Meaning that if we are talking about our rights, then we are being called Naxali.
03:17 We are breathing, even if we are not doing anything,
03:19 we are breathing, so we are being called Naxali.
03:22 And as it was seen in the earlier times,
03:25 that if people used to go to protest, then they were killed and declared Naxali.
03:31 Or if you listen, if they used to live in the village,
03:37 and if they were killed in the shooting, then they were falsely accused of being Naxali.
03:42 And they were actually normal people.
03:46 So I thought that if this is kept in front,
03:50 so that is why I wrote this line of Naxali.
03:52 And my aim is not to promote Naxalism.
03:55 It is just that, like a journalist says,
03:59 "What is visible, we have to show it."
04:01 So the same thing happens with a rapper,
04:03 to show the society its mirror.
04:05 So whatever I saw, I wrote it.
04:07 So Aman is saying that Naxali,
04:10 the rap he has prepared,
04:12 through that he is trying to say that
04:14 when we talk about the water, forest, land,
04:16 then we are called Naxali.
04:18 So that is why it is okay, you call me Naxali.
04:20 I am not doing anything wrong.
04:22 I am asking for my rights.
04:24 I am talking about my water, forest, land.
04:26 Aman, I also want to know from you that
04:28 apart from this, you have written 6 raps in recent years.
04:33 So first of all, tell me how did this hobby of writing raps arise?
04:37 And in your rap, you write yourself,
04:40 perform yourself, and then go to a studio and shoot.
04:44 So what is the Jharkhandi flavor in your rap?
04:48 What do you want to say through rap?
04:51 And why did you choose the field of rap?
04:53 See, the first thing,
04:55 what used to happen in the olden days,
04:57 we used to have a food stall.
04:59 Everyone used to go to the food stall.
05:01 Grandparents, aunts, grandmothers,
05:03 when food was prepared in the evening,
05:05 they used to meet in the food stall
05:07 and discuss with each other, with the help of music.
05:09 A conversation used to go on with the music,
05:11 playing drums and singing.
05:13 That this is happening with us,
05:15 our problem is like this.
05:17 So we used to have a food stall,
05:19 and the music was the only thing we had.
05:21 So what is happening in the modern era?
05:23 If we look at the modern era,
05:25 since the internet has come,
05:27 we have learned a lot of things.
05:29 One of them was rap,
05:31 hip-hop was a trending thing.
05:33 And this trend was still going on in the youth.
05:35 So I thought, let's target this.
05:37 If we want to keep our word,
05:39 if we want to reach the people of the new generation,
05:41 then rap should be the medium.
05:43 Because if we sing a normal song,
05:45 then the song would be limited.
05:47 But in rap,
05:49 rap means poetry in rhythm.
05:51 So we are writing everything in the rhythm.
05:53 We are telling a big thing.
05:55 If there is so much knowledge,
05:57 then we compress it and sing it in rap.
05:59 You have written a rap on a few other traditions.
06:01 I would like to hear that too.
06:03 And tell me the meaning of that too.
06:05 Like there is a written Basti Anthem.
06:07 It is not necessary that it is a Maqsali or Waqsali,
06:09 but it is a Maqsali.
06:11 It is a Maqsali,
06:13 but it is not necessary that it is a Maqsali or Waqsali.
06:15 But if we are Adivasis,
06:17 if we want to make Adivasis proud,
06:19 then how can we make them proud?
06:21 In every small thing.
06:23 So I have written it in the Basti Anthem.
06:25 [Rapping in Basti]
06:27 Please explain it in short.
06:53 Like you said,
06:55 what all can you see in a village?
06:57 What all can you see in a village of an Adivasi society?
06:59 I have described that.
07:01 If someone has a small house,
07:03 they can make a building out of it.
07:05 What all can you eat?
07:07 We have traditional food.
07:09 I have also told you about
07:11 what we wear.
07:13 If there is a fight,
07:15 how can the villagers unite?
07:17 In the Basti, there are brothers.
07:19 So if anything is happening in the village,
07:21 all the brothers will unite
07:23 so that the village does not face any problem.
07:25 So you were listening to Aman.
07:27 Actually, Aman's entire rap
07:29 is about Adivasism.
07:31 It is about Jal Jungal Zameen.
07:33 So far, Aman has written 6 raps.
07:35 He has also released 6.
07:37 He has written it himself.
07:39 He has sung it himself.
07:41 He has shot it and uploaded it on YouTube.
07:43 Aman wants to tell Adivasism
07:45 to the world through rap.
07:47 He wants to tell the world
07:49 what Adivasism is
07:51 and how their culture is.
07:53 Aman wants to make his future
07:55 in this field
07:57 and I should also get recognition in the future.
07:59 [BLANK_AUDIO]