talkin' 'bout a revolution

Music is an integral element of revolution. Many songs are born out of times where there has been a struggle for political justice and social liberation. From Vande Mataram in India to Le Marseillaise in France to We Shall Overcome in America, songs of freedom hold a special place because they signify something worth fighting for. The 1960s were a turbulent time in recent history and probably marks the entry of environmentalism in the main-stream. It has now been 40 years since the Woodstock music festival which saw some of the best musicians of that time perform for a crowd nearly half a million strong, and many of the ideas, philosophies, and dreams that grew from those fields in Bethel, New York are still paving the way today. More than just a concert, the event became a stand against war, a peaceful revolution, and a cultural forum for ideas and positive global change--including the environmental movement.

That was a time filled with turmoil but yet drenched in optimism and faith that change will come. I'm innately too much of a realist to ever be a flower child for much too long, but the music of Joni Mitchell, Neil Young etc rate much higher on my playlist than Led Zeppelin and Rolling Stones ever will.

Apart from the music with social messages that came out from the sixties, there were also several other environmental warnings that triggered the movement. Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring which was published in 1962 which highlighted the hazardous effects of pesticide use served as the tipping point. Out of the same era also came James Lovelock's Gaia Hypothesis and Paul Ehrlich's book The Population Bomb. Other famous names of that era are E.O Wilson, Lester Brown, David Suzuki, Ralph Nader - all environmental pioneers, blowing the clarion for this fragile earth long before Al Gore, Raj Pachauri or any one else.

Scientific evidence of climate change was already being found back then which spurred on the social activism that coincided with the Vietnam War and exploded into the hippie-movement and culminated in Woodstock. The voices of Woodstock were strong, clear, optimistic, perhaps even idealistic but they believed with many of them still active in the environmental movement today. Does music have the power to change? Do we need another Woodstock to shake things up? Do we even believe so purely anymore? Does art for revolution's sake even exist?

Whether music is a tool of activism or a precursor to action is a question to be answered. Whether or not any form of music can change the world is perhaps out there for debate. What is certain though is that music has always inspired the people who actually do change the world.

Won't you help to sing these songs of freedom

'Cause all I ever have: redemption songs

- Bob Marley

death of an icon

To a child of the 80s with the big hair and flamboyance, there are some things that stood out more than others. The first album I ever bought was 'Dangerous' - on tape - which still reminds me of the start of my incredible journey through music, which is a never-ending search.

Armies of Jackson fans are already calling June 25th the day the music died. For me, not a lot has changed because the music still exists. What has somehow been altered is a perception I cannot fully understand yet.

In the 90s when Michael was singing about environmentalism, it was new and radical. In many ways, it still is - but then there wasn't this sense of urgency we feel now. This is exactly what his songs were predicting: that the day will come when we look back and wonder why we didn't do anything about it then.

He was one of the few artistes in that era who sang about socio-economic-environmental issues in the wide, convoluted forum of pop music. He was an intelligent lyricist and a sensitive performer who often got ridiculed for portraying emotion in his songs. The material he chose to sang about always encompassed a lot more than what empty pop portrays today.

Setting aside (as if it is possible) the moonwalking and the thrilling and the unique voice and the incredible dancing and the 'wacko' image and the bling and the plastic surgery, there was a marked dichotomy between the man and the myth. There are those songs that cannot be forgotten and some that are still relevant and others that make us think and still others that make us feel. For me, apart from contributing the much needed originality to the 80s, the king of pop was the headliner of a mass environmental movement. Even if nothing else, it made people aware of socio-enviro issues through his songs.

Death is both dramatic and dramatized even if dying isn't. Heroes are born after they die and the way to immortality is what you leave behind. For someone who has been the icon of a generation, death will be hard to live down. For those of us who call themselves fans or claim to have cut their musical teeth on Thriller or Bad or Dangerous - forget about the images for a second and focus on the words that is still a much needed refrain.