BATHINDA/JALANDHAR: The music of protest has bridged language, culture and geographic divides. Songs with roots in Italian folk music and in the sublime genius of Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s ghazals is keeping spirits singing in the farmers’ agitation against the three central agri-marketing laws on the borders of Delhi.
“Wapas Jao”, a Punjabi version of “Bella Ciao (Goodbye, Beautiful)”, an Italian farmers’ protest song from the late 1800s, has gained newfound popularity because of a web series, has been an instant hit, as have been songs themed on Iqbal Bano’s rendition of Faiz’s ghazal, “Hum Dekhenge”, in Punjabi and Tamil.