A ballad for the ballot

Doing their bit: Ashis and Nivedita - Photo: Bhagya prakash k

Doing their bit: Ashis and Nivedita - Photo: Bhagya prakash k   | Photo Credit: Bhagya Prakash K

Meet the couple that has come up with a vote song, which is now used by the Election Commission

Come elections and people are urged by all and sundry to get out of their homes and vote. Be it the loud speakers fixed to rickshaws, tempos or just people around you, everyone seems to be doing their bit to encourage others to cast their votes. And, we present to you a couple – Ashis Dutta and Nivedita – from Bengaluru, who wrote the lyrics and composed a song for the very same purpose in 2014. The audio was used in the last two consecutive elections after they gave away their song “for free to Janagraha”.

Now the duo is back in the news because the Election Commission has made a video of the song, which is being used this year to encourage people to vote. The song is doing the rounds on social media and can also be viewed on YouTube. The couple is also credited in the video for the composition and the lyrics of the vote song – “Chalo chalen...”

“It is a song for voters to exercise their right to vote and not miss the opportunity to participate in the democratic process of our country,” explains Ashis, who has conceptualised and written the lyrics for the song, which is sung by Nivedita and their son, Aniruddha.

“The song was first written in 2014 and it was our effort for the people. So we gave it away to Janagraha for free for their voter awareness programme,” explains Ashis, who then adds that they decided that the song should be in Hindi as “it would have an all India perspective even though not all of us speak the language”.

Nivedita’s only concern was to make the song peppy and catchy. She adds that she first set the tune for the song, to which Ashis later wrote the lyrics for.

Trained in Hindustani classical music from Krishna Chandra Bandopadhay of Kirana Gharana and Vidushi Sunanda Patnaik of Gwalior Gharana, Nivedita is also a stage performer and has had her songs aired on television. In fact, Saregama India Ltd has released her Hindustani classical fusion album titled Autumn Ballet, for which she collaborated with Stephen Devassy.

Nivedita says she composed the song in Raag Desh to make it “a peppy, hummable tune, attractive to both young and old”, while Ashis adds that it is a song “with an underlying thread of patriotism with a classical fervour.”

The song is on YouTube on https://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=u2whqm_zRnI.