Art has the power to communicate. Art has the power to
bring about evolutionary and revolutionary changes in society,”
says artist Subodh Kerkar on the importance of art in creating
awareness about voting. Many artists and performers across
Goa have come together to bring about a change in the way
voters perceive elections. To promote and
educate them to not let go of their right to vote,
music and art plays an important role.
Sonia Shirsat is known for her melodious
voice and it was no surprise to see her belt out
another soulful song to motivate voters for these
elections. She is one of the state icons selected
by the Election Commission of India to promote
voting. “The song ‘I will not let go my right to vote’
has been written, composed and sung by me with
music arrangement by Mukesh Ghatwal and the
video is made by the Chief Electoral Office. The
idea behind the song is that those who do not
exercise their right to vote, don’t have any right
to ask questions. The song was composed in a
day and Mukesh arranged the music overnight.
The Chief Electoral Office, Goa requested me to
be the Youth Icon for these elections. There were
nice songs made this year by other artistes, in
Konkani and Hindi. In order to not miss out on the
youth that follows English music, ‘I will not let go
my right to vote’ was composed in English,” says
Sonia.
She further adds, “There is a lot of very positive response
for the video. Some called it very motivating, some found the
recording and mixing of a very high standard, another called it a
Hollywood standard English song. The most important thing is
that it should achieve its goal of motivating voters to cast their
vote. The sole purpose of the song is to see that we have a high
voter turnout at the polling stations this time.”
Subodh Kerkar has also
been selected as one of the
state icons. He has been
promoting and educating
the common man on the
importance of voting. “I have
spent time with fishermen,
farmers, masons and people
who playing carrom in the
villages. I also created images
using my photographs to
express my ideas on what
voting means. The same
images have been used by
the Chief Electoral Officer,
Goa on their social media
pages and it has been gaining
attention. This is the first time that I am actively participating in
creating awareness for the elections. In the last elections we had
an 83 per cent turnout for voting; we are hoping to reach the 90
per cent mark this year,” says Subodh.
Brijesh Kakodker had written the song ‘Susegaad Goenkar’
for the film ‘Home Sweet Home’ directed by Swapnil Shetkar.
For these elections, Brijesh has brought out an acoustic version
of the same song with music by Rohan Naik. “We redid the song
on an acoustic track and created a video to go along with it. I
have rapped for the song while Rohan has sung the melody. The
video was uploaded on my YouTube channel. We’ve received
positive feedback and people have started talking about various
issues. I had also uploaded a video on ethical voting earlier,
on how voters should not fall prey to bribes and should vote
sincerely. Since it is an important time of the year when we are
expressing our views and issues, we should think and voice out
issues that affect me and you,” says Brijesh, who has directed the
film ‘Tiffin Box’.
Varun Carvalho has remastered and remixed his song ‘Let’s
Vote’, performed by his band Varun Carvalho and the Two
Timers. Besides the video doing rounds on social media, Varun
has been promoting the idea of voting, in colleges and even
schools so that the children can motivate their parents to vote.
“I want the youth to come out and vote and I am encouraging
them through my initiative Rise Nation Army, which is a music
truck with sound system that we drive to the schools and
colleges and perform on for one and a half hours. We also talk
to them about life through music and one of the songs that is
hugely popular is ‘Let’s Vote’. Many college students are first time
voters and they should vote with full awareness for the right
people. Instead of being wrongly influenced, they should go
with their gut feeling and cast their vote,” says Varun.
