How a group of Kerala artists are marking their solidarity with the farmers’ strike in the Capital

The band was established in 2013. (Photo: screengrab/ Oorali website)

He adds, “There are around 2.5 lakh farmers, including elders, women and children, spread out across six locations on the borders of Delhi, peacefully protesting for more than 50 days in the shattering Delhi winter. It is our duty as artists to awaken the attention of the citizens and the international art community to this struggle, thereby pressurising our government to adhere to the needs of its people, rather than to the whimsies of corporates. We request the Indian art community to use art to give strength, highlight and create discussions about this issue.” The response, he says, has been encouraging. While several artists will join the collective in Delhi, more than 15 videographers, painters, musicians and actors will travel with the band on the train from Thrissur.

The largely folk-reggae band has also reached out for support through social media. (Photo: screengrab/ Oorali website)

Established in 2013, the band comprises six core members – Saji, Martin John C (actor, director, singer), Shaji Surendranath (actor, dramaturge and lyricist) Arjun (musician percussionist, tattoo artist and Carnatic vocalist), Mallu (actor) and Sudheesh KU (percussionist, painter and vocalist). The collective has performed in several towns and villages across Kerala in a refurbished bus, converted into a performing space, they have named Oorali Express. If during a performance in 2018 in Bengaluru, they stressed on the importance of water bodies, in 2017 the band started a campaign to protest against Vinayakan’s death, a Dalit boy who was allegedly tortured in police custody in Thrissur. In 2019, the band took a trip across Kerala to thank fishermen who had led the rescue operations during the 2018 floods in the state.

“We are not really a genre-based band. Music, for us, is a way of expression. Being political is the fabric of the democracy we live in, it’s not about being affiliated to any political party. We speak the language of art through our music,” says Saji.