Tackling Discrimination with Music | Raka Bombatt | TEDxBangalore — Transcript

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1. 0:02the yoga's 2006 my father had saved up
2. 0:07enough to buy my family what would not
3. 0:09be the single most important investment
4. 0:11a personal computer remember those and
5. 0:17it got even better
6. 0:19I had an internet connection with a
7. 0:24blistering speed of 512 kb PS and a
8. 0:28download limit of a whopping 1gb
9. 0:30anything was possible I was ecstatic now
10. 0:36having a PC led to my love affair with
11. 0:39fruityloops version 1 a digital audio
12. 0:41workstation that allowed me to create
13. 0:43beats from scratch using stock sounds
14. 0:46found within the software and Traktor DJ
15. 0:48version 1 was the DJ software that let
16. 0:52me mix two different tracks at once now
17. 0:54this was completely new territory for me
18. 0:57as I have no formal training in music
19. 0:59whatsoever so if you ask me to play
20. 1:02happy birthday on the keys
21. 1:04I'd really struggle but I vividly
22. 1:08remember sitting in my bedroom for over
23. 1:1018 hours straight and maybe 37 attempts
24. 1:13in I was finally able to produce my
25. 1:15first ever mashup which is a fusion of
26. 1:18two different tracks to do John Lewis
27. 1:20now this session stretched right into
28. 1:24the next afternoon and I had no dearth
29. 1:26of energy I had made something out of
30. 1:29nothing right from the comfort of my own
31. 1:31bedroom but what I had I was completely
32. 1:35addicted to the process of arranging a
33. 1:38whole bunch of different sounds in a
34. 1:39sequence to make one cohesive beat I was
35. 1:43absolutely hyped about the fact that was
36. 1:44able to translate my ideas right onto
37. 1:46the screen now there is a common
38. 1:51misconception about what electronic
39. 1:54music is and for the most part people
40. 1:57associate that with loud party music and
41. 1:59that couldn't be further from the truth
42. 2:01we have legendary pop icons such as
43. 2:03David Bowie Duran Duran Depeche Mode
44. 2:06Kraftwerk Madonna and bappi lahiri who
45. 2:10have used electronic music excessively
46. 2:12in the body of work
47. 2:13and that goes for famed German film
48. 2:15composer Hans Zimmer as well
49. 2:16who is notable for incorporating
50. 2:18electronic sounds into his orchestral
51. 2:19compositions now speaking of music icons
52. 2:23let me ask you this how many of you have
53. 2:27chanted along with the sea of people at
54. 2:29that concert raise of hands awesome and
55. 2:33how many of you have felt connected with
56. 2:37a roomful of people then you found
57. 2:40yourself dancing belong to the same beat
58. 2:43amazing so what does that tell you there
59. 2:46is something about music that brings
60. 2:48people together it's everywhere around
61. 2:51us
62. 2:52its inherent our bodies readily react to
63. 2:55music which makes music the single
64. 2:57greatest unifier that has ever existed
65. 3:01so when you find yourself if you've ever
66. 3:06experienced the feeling of ecstasy when
67. 3:09listening to Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin
68. 3:12or have bonded with someone over the
69. 3:15Beatles rd burman Ilayaraja then those
70. 3:18are the same hormones at work that are
71. 3:20responsible for generating the feelings
72. 3:22of happiness and Trust music unites
73. 3:26people now I've seen this happen all at
74. 3:28once when performing in front of a
75. 3:30packed crowd at a club you and I don't
76. 3:32necessarily have to know each other but
77. 3:34for that brief moment we're all
78. 3:36connected regardless of who we are where
79. 3:40they're from or what we look like age
80. 3:43gender sexual orientation the color of
81. 3:47your skin your caste music does not care
82. 3:51about all that now pop quiz who
83. 3:54recognizes this song okay now who
84. 3:58recognizes this song right so these two
85. 4:02songs have been penned by the same
86. 4:03person James Brown the first track went
87. 4:07on to become his highest charting song
88. 4:09on the Billboard the second song turned
89. 4:12out to be the unofficial anthem of the
90. 4:14Black Power movement so as you can see
91. 4:16music has been long been wielded as a
92. 4:20powerful medium to fight social
93. 4:22injustice societal hierarchy and of
94. 4:25course spread
95. 4:27the message of unity and peace now when
96. 4:30it comes to hip-hop hip-hop is the
97. 4:33single most powerful art movement that
98. 4:36has ever existed that does come out of
99. 4:38the african-american community is the
100. 4:40Latino communities and Caribbean
101. 4:42American communities and has gone on to
102. 4:44become a worldwide phenomenon to the
103. 4:47point where we imitate emulate their art
104. 4:51style speech business self-expression
105. 4:53through beats and rhymes gangster rap
106. 4:56which originated as an underground art
107. 4:58form was created in order to expose the
108. 5:01critical issues that plate black
109. 5:04communities most importantly police
110. 5:07brutality the finest example here are
111. 5:09being NWA and dr. Dre we have 20 year
112. 5:12old folk artist Ginny mahi who is
113. 5:15influenced by rap and hip-hop has gone
114. 5:18to achieve notoriety but viral head such
115. 5:21as fan Baba Saheb D I'm a fan of Baba
116. 5:23Sahib and danger Jamar a casteist slur
117. 5:28which he flipped into an anthem of
118. 5:30empowerment and then we have bunch sing
119. 5:33a Sikh agricultural laborer who was
120. 5:37brutally attacked by seven men and was
121. 5:39left in amputee all because he sought
122. 5:41justice for the rape of his minor
123. 5:44daughter he went on to become a
124. 5:47legendary Dalit icon who went on to sing
125. 5:49songs of rebellion tackling cost based
126. 5:52violence and finally we have the
127. 5:57costless collective a chennai based folk
128. 6:00band specialized in Ghana music which is
129. 6:03folk music style that has originated
130. 6:05from the streets of North Chennai they
131. 6:08use their music to annihilate the idea
132. 6:12of caste and bring about unity through
133. 6:14powerful storytelling so what is my
134. 6:18purpose in all of this we come across
135. 6:21the news of lynchings murders and rapes
136. 6:25of people who belong to the so-called
137. 6:27lower cost and no matter how many times
138. 6:31you and I rant on social media about
139. 6:33this we know for a fact that the
140. 6:35publicity surrounding this will die down
141. 6:36in a few days
142. 6:39and the truth is that there's a whole
143. 6:42new generation that'll have to live and
144. 6:45endured this reality having faced
145. 6:48instances of discrimination myself based
146. 6:52on the color of my skin and also being
147. 6:54stereotyped because of the way I look my
148. 6:56entire appearance this has had an effect
149. 7:02on my mental health but I can't even
150. 7:05begin to explain the magnitude of
151. 7:08suffering and do it by those who are on
152. 7:10the receiving end of regular cast based
153. 7:13in justices now all I'm saying is what
154. 7:17if the next generation of kids they
155. 7:19provided the resources to discover a new
156. 7:22skill to understand who they are
157. 7:24understand what means self worth
158. 7:25understand the meaning of
159. 7:27self-expression and eventually go on to
160. 7:29challenge outdated ideologies from music
161. 7:32because to be honest technology has
162. 7:35leveled the playing field in this day
163. 7:37and age making music is not a rich kids
164. 7:40game anymore you can literally make
165. 7:42music right off your cell phone or on
166. 7:45your laptop while on the go and publish
167. 7:47your work instantly right so what I want
168. 7:51to say it's music definitely empowers
169. 7:54transforms saves and liberates now I
170. 7:59have a small performance piece payoff
171. 8:03this is about me finding my identity in
172. 8:07music and every single sound that has
173. 8:10been used in this song has played a role
174. 8:13into making this whole there is rhythm
175. 8:15harmony and flow all of these qualities
176. 8:17that you know a society needs to
177. 8:20function smoothly so
178. 8:24[Applause]
179. 8:29[Music]
180. 8:46and I my son why am I being treated
181. 8:50differently from everyone what have I
182. 8:53done
183. 8:53I've been punished others shun
184. 8:55undermined overlooked had my quantities
185. 8:58shook its what look to help me realize
186. 9:01that the road emancipation comes for the
187. 9:04price are visualized in my mind's eye
188. 9:07that my music and words and having
189. 9:09recognized I visualized
190. 9:11in my mind's eye that my self-worth will
191. 9:15never be compromised I visualized in my
192. 9:18mind's eye that the revolution will be
193. 9:21televised from pen to paper focused like
194. 9:25laser beams to through vision haters I
195. 9:33[Music]
196. 9:35got no reservations I've got no
197. 9:38reservation so I'll tell you how I'm
198. 9:40feeling I've got no reservations my
199. 9:43words
200. 9:45[Music]
201. 9:47I've got no reservations I've got no
202. 9:50reservations I'll tell you how I'm
203. 9:52feeling I've got no reservations my
204. 10:00music can be used as a powerful tool to
205. 10:02start a conversation start a dialogue
206. 10:06and eventually start a movement
207. 10:10I'm rocks with a joke rock are the most
208. 10:14artists liberated thank you