{"id":60337,"date":"2026-10-23T02:59:22","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T02:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/23\/lost-rights-little-credit-less-pay-the-painful-reality-behind-tribal-music-in-the-mainstream\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T02:59:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T02:59:22","slug":"lost-rights-little-credit-less-pay-the-painful-reality-behind-tribal-music-in-the-mainstream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waqtdiawaz.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/23\/lost-rights-little-credit-less-pay-the-painful-reality-behind-tribal-music-in-the-mainstream\/","title":{"rendered":"Lost rights, little credit, less pay: the painful reality behind tribal music in the mainstream"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The song \u2018Neram Pilantha\u2019 begins as a call to a loved one, reminding her of the breaking dawn and the reality of toiling on land they do not own, earning grain as wages. It then returns to a night of music to forget hardships, culminating in an ode to the way of life of the Paniya community, the largest Scheduled Tribe in Kerala.<\/p>\n

Eight years ago, Prasad K. penned the song at the persuasion of a friend for an independent album that never materialised. Written in the Paniya language spoken by his community in Wayanad district, the song eventually found its way into the mainstream through the 2025 film Narivetta<\/i>, a Malayalam political action thriller directed by Anuraj Manohar and starring Tovino Thomas.<\/p>\n

For the 36-year-old, who has been an artist for 17 years, it was the kind of break he had been waiting for. But the song earned him only a one-time payment of \u20b93,000, with no royalties. Prasad is credited as the lyricist and singer in the film, while Jakes Bejoy is credited as the composer.<\/p>\n

Prasad\u2019s case is not an anomaly. Tribal artists across the country describe a similar pattern in their contributions to mainstream films and music industries in exchange for bringing their work to the world: modest payments, little to no credit, no royalties, and agreements they have signed without fully understanding them. These problems may not be unique to tribal artists in India\u2019s music business. But their situation is more complex, involving two distinct forms of creative ownership.<\/p>\n

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Singer Prasad K.; and (below) Prasad with other Paniya community members in a still from the Malayalam film \u2018Narivetta\u2019 (2025).\n <\/p>\n

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First, there are the artists\u2019 own works \u2014 such as the song Prasad wrote, composed and sang in his mother tongue inspired from his culture \u2014 for which they are not adequately credited or compensated. Secondly, there is the community\u2019s shared heritage, oral traditions, language and songs that belong to no single person and have been passed down for generations. Community members say these are often borrowed by mainstream cinema and productions, with no credit or adequate payment.<\/p>\n

In both cases, the art is more than just a song; it represents an entire culture.<\/p>\n

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