A new Telugu song Ye angadi poyedi, ye retu ku ammedi supports farmers agitating against the new Farm Bill 2020. The folk rendition has words penned by Anand Gurram and is composed and sung by Shamanth Nag.
Compelling lyrics
“The song’s significance is its remarkable and hard-hitting lyrics depicting reality; I give credit to Anand for such powerful words,” says Shamanth. With compelling lines Yeddu gudda podisi nenu, yevasam edho chesthunte, gittu baatu nattivirigi, yaparam cheyamante, ye angadi poyedi, ye retuku ammedi (I am cultivating my land by kicking the back of my oxen, but if I am compelled to do business by not giving even the production cost, how can I survive? Where can I go and sell my produce for what rates can I sell my produce) , the video has photographs of farmers toiling in the fields.
Shamanth Nag
This qualified lawyer-turned-musician keeps himself updated with legal news and the bills passed in Parliament. “Since I have studied law I could understand terms that regular people cannot see and felt a few points in the Farm Bill were not in favour of farmers,” he points out adding SK Srinivas of ChowRaasta band (Shamanth’s brother Yashwanth Nag is a singer and keyboard player in the ChowRaasta band) approached him with a song.
Calling it a ‘call and response’ composition, Shamanth explains, “This is a folk compositional structure where a person sings the first line and others respond to it in a chorus.” Instead of using only dappu — a traditional accompanying instrument used by folk performers — Shamanth blended modern instruments and included sounds from drums and taiko, a Japanese percussion instrument too.
Although the song’s composition took only four hours (project done in two days), the team couldn’t finalise a singer whose voice suited the folk style rendition. Shamanth was not keen but those who heard him sing, felt his rustic voice suited the best.
In his 14 years with the music industry, he has composed for Tamil movies including Revelations, Andhadhi and Sethum Ayiram Pon and Unardhal (worked in the music department) and Nirvana Inn (Hindi). In Telugu, he was a sound engineer for C/o Kancharapalem and Spyder . His new release as a composer is yet-to-be-released children’s film Selfie Mummy Google Daddy (Kannada).
(Ye Angadi Poyedi can be seen on Tippri Originals’ YouTube Channel)
