(as published in Rage, The Star Malaysia - Feature
17/09/2007)
I DON'T really know if music has the ability to change society
but at least I'm certain that it has changed me as an individual," says
Yap Lian Tat, lead guitar and vocals for local independent band Nao in the
documentary short film from the band's self-titled debut album.
"I put what I've learned and understand from this society's problems into the my music in hopes of sending the messages ... and I think that in itself, is valuable enough," says Tat.
"I put what I've learned and understand from this society's problems into the my music in hopes of sending the messages ... and I think that in itself, is valuable enough," says Tat.
Nao's post-punk music focuses on various important local
issues such as social injustice, corruption and racism, prompting some to brand
it a controversial left-winger and by others as revolutionary.
"People who are open-minded will see it differently as
compared to those who are not. You can't do anything about it," Tat
responds to his critics.
Local musicians like Tat may be few but although music
influencing change might seem far-fetched in a society where music is merely
seen as an entertainment, history would prove otherwise.
The first musicians to opt for social reforms were the 1950s
beatnik movement in the United States, which made anti-war and anti-nuclear
weapons the prime subject of their dissent.
Although the beatnik movement merely became a niche counter
culture in the US, hippie culture rose from the seeds it laid, bringing
anti-war sentiments to new heights among American youths in the 1960s.
As the social unease rise to its peak with the Vietnam War,
the hippies soon culminated to a nationwide youth culture movement that
rejected established institutions, criticised middle class values, and
opposed war with alternative arts, folk music and
psychedelic rock.
Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Richie Havens and Joan Baez (who is
still an avid social and anti-war musician/activist today) were some of the
most popular musicians because their image and music resonated with those
ideals and values.
By early 1970s, the movement's most celebrated icon – John
Lennon – became so influential that the desperate Nixon administration issued a
deportation charge and stopped him from going on a nationwide concert tour in
conjunction with a voting campaign against the administration during the coming
elections.
However, Lennon's setback didn't stop the youth movement's
drive for political reform.
With their tireless campaign to champion peace, freedom of
expression and rejection of cultural hegemony, youths eventually led to the
socially oppressive government's downfall and consequently, the army's
withdrawal from Vietnam and Korea.
Music's social-shifting power was seen again in mid-1970s
England when punk rock music broke loose.
Like the hippies, punk music represented a new kind of
social dissent among youths: a jaded, cynical perspective with anger and
aggression born out of the frustration towards immense commercialisation and
capitalism in their society as well as other musical movements who, according
to them, failed to live up to their social roles and falling instead into the
orthodoxies they once rejected.
The Ramones, The Clash and The Sex Pistols pioneered the
movement, fuelling a youthful rebelliousness that opted for absolute freedom
from the social rules that chained them.
Although punk-rock's inevitable commercialisation stripped
off its initial values, leaving nothing more than a trend, it brought new
perspectives of self-expression and opposed cultural hegemony head on.
But most importantly, it gave youths the independent,
Do-It-Yourself attitude that rejected the social dogma of inherently
dysfunctional and unjust establishments.
This indirectly led to further developments in both music
and its socio-political connectivity among youths during the 1980s, paving the
way to new wave, post-punk, Britpop, hardcore and perhaps most
notably, the grunge music explosion.
However, the direct link to the youths' role in pushing for
political changes slowly waned as the once underground and indie were fast
being embraced as pop.
That said, ascending pop status for musicians gave them an
opportunity to turn to other humanitarian causes, collaborating with NGOs and
activist collectives.
Giant music festivals like the revolutionary Live Aid rock
concert in 1985 became the platforms for these musicians as they campaigned on
Third World nations' issues.
Among them, U2 became the ultimate musical/humanitarian
activist pop rock group associated with various worldwide issues throughout the
years.
It wasn't until the 1990s that music is seen influencing
political change once again when Britpop emerged to answer the grunge invasion
in Britain.
Britpop bands like Blur, Oasis, Suede and Pulp combined
various elements from past influential British musicians like T-Rex, David
Bowie and The Kinks, in an effort to create a uniquely British sound.
Eventually, this rose up as the music that represented the
British working class, disseminating the public's need for cultural integrity,
embracing the urge for youthful freedom, and ultimately reflecting the people's
aspirations for a better future.
The critically acclaimed BBC documentary The Britpop Story
in 2005 showed a special focus on then British Prime Minister Tony Blair's
support of Oasis and how that eventually carved the party's vox populi image,
contributing to their landslide political victory in 1997.
The new millennium brought on new problems, and once again,
musicians turned to world issues.
Besides the messy War on Terror, globalisation, Third World
poverty and environment issues are but some of the most serious problems the
world face today.
But musicians realised that mere gigantic charity events
were hardly enough, thus, with their fame and pop status, they wish again to
draw their young music fans closer to the issues they champion.
Artistes like U2's Bono, Coldplay's Chris Martin and
Radiohead's Thom Yorke took to the grassroots by talking directly to both
youths and world leaders, joining in rallies, and of course, creating music
with
reflective messages.
In the Malaysian context however, where many socio-political
problems still loom or lie hidden and ignored under the guise of relative peace
and harmony, would local music ever play a part in creating a viable youth
movement capable of influencing change?
"Well, take a look at how huge bubblegum pop is (among
the youths) and you've pretty much have your answer," says Tat.
He believes that music's full potential as a social-shifting
entity can only materialise if youths can see beyond it as mere entertainment.
"It's not just about the musicians; it's also about the
audience. It's not unusual for young people to think it's just their personal
taste because Asian kids aren't brought up with a strong music culture.
"We weren't educated to be socially or politically
aware and we certainly didn't grow up with an acute sense of artistic
expression," says Tat.
For him and his band Nao, the road to an actual
socio-political shift here is an extremely long one, and as he describes it
"has a destination that is nearly impossible to reach within the near
future".
"But I honestly think it doesn't really matter,
musicians just got to do what they think is right. In the end, it's about
providing an option with my music … because change is always a matter of
choice,"
he concludes.