Shahabaz Aman sings Pachapanamthathe in support of farmers' protest

Shahabaz Aman dedicated a song to the farmers’ protest which has been ongoing in the national Capital for nearly 20 days. He chose to render

Pachapanamthathe

, a song which was originally written by Left-leaning writer Ponkunnam Damodaran, and composed by MS Baburaj. Shahabaz’ gave the song, which has activist roots, an earthy feel and set it against photographs of farm workers by KR Sunil and Biju Ibrahim, and art by KL Leon and Pavi Sankar.

Originally sung by Kozhikode Abdul Khadar, who was also known as Malabar Saigal, for the play Nammalonnu, the song won the Kerala State Award for Best Lyricist posthumously for Ponkunnam, when the song was used in the 2006 movie Nottam. It was sung by Yesudas.

Speaking about using the old song, the singer says, "When a real violation is going on against farmers in India, I am borrowing this song to show support to them, and to the earth we stand on, our grain, seed, food, to our work equipment and to the ordinary people."

Shahabaz is not the only person to show support and sympathy for the cause of farmers, which has been ongoing since August with the Dilli Chalo slogan.Composer Bijibal recently released a poem supporting the strike. Speaking about the hard fought sacrifices of thousands against the greed of the powerful ones, he strikes a note of encouragement to take the fight forward bravely. “We have to win the fight today,” he says in his narration.

Today, the farmers, mostly from Punjab who are protesting against new farm laws, went on a one day strike.

Check out Shahabaz Aman’s song here: