Jun 10 2022 to Jun 10 2022 6 p.m.

EVENT HAS ENDED

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

Pasha Bhai aako hin kato darbaar ich ma (Look, Pasha Bhai is on the scene, now it’s a celebration) Inke tanty’n me gayes’ wale barbaad ich ma (Come in the way, if you dare, it’ll be your devastation) Bengaluru’s homegrown dakhni-speaking, slang-innovating rapper and emcee, Mohammed Affan aka Pasha Bhai, takes the BIC stage alongside his neighbourhood’s very own hip-hop collective, Clan Bokka Phod (CBP). Growing up in Bangalore, engulfed in Neelasandra’s grimy milieu of violence and urban administrative neglect, Pasha and CBP turned to hip-hop music both as an escape as well as for inspiration. Afterall, what is hip-hop if not a cultural response to adversity. Combining an intuitive ability to vocalise in their mother tongue Dakhni, with hard-hitting original lyrics and sufi-esque compositions, they have cut themselves apart from the clutter of Gully Boy inspired Indian rappers. Dakhni, a mix of Persian, Dehalvi (old Urdu), Marathi, Telugu and Kannada, traces its provenance to the reigns of the Bahmani Kingdom and Deccan Sultanates between the 14th and 17th centuries whose territories sprawled across south India as well as parts of western and central India. While it is predominantly spoken by Muslims of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and parts of Tamil Nadu, in the urban agglomerations of south India such as Hyderabad and Bangalore, Dakhni continues to be the lingua franca of a large sections of the non-Muslim population as well. The choice to band together and form India’s first Dakhni hip-hop collective was not accidental but rather deliberate, inspired in parts by Hashmi Bijapuri’s couplet: Tujé chākrī kya tu apnīch bōl, Térā shér Dakhnī hai, Dakhnīch bōl. Penned after Aurangzeb’s conquest of Bijapur and the subsequent fall of the Adil Shahi dynasty, Hasmi, now compelled to write and perform in their foreign tongue if he wanted to retain his station, rejects the precondition of his new northern masters. In English, the couplet translates to “Why bother about patrons, in your own words do state; Your poetry is Dakhni, and only in it should you narrate.” Clan Bokka Phod (CBP) is a Bengaluru based hip-hop collective composed of rappers, poets, music producers, and performers. Active since 2014, CBP has staged open mics, street cyphers, concerts and social cause fundraising events. They dropped the music video of their debut single on YouTube on 6 March 2022, called ‘Khuda Gawah’ – a sufi rap song composed by resident music composer and engineer, Demixx, and performed by 5 other members of the crew. Khuda Gawah currently has over 10,000 views in just over two months, and rising. In May 2022, Clan Bokka Phod performed an opening set and shared the stage with mainstream Indian hip-hop’s poster boy, Raftaar. Supported by JSW