Prof. Mrinal Chatterjee delivered the Subject Expert Engagement (SEE) talk on “Songs of Love and Protest” at School of Mass Communication, KIIT Deemed University (KSMC) on 25th September 2021. Prof. Chatterjee, a media educator, author and trainer from Odisha, works as the professor and regional head at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal.
Prof. Chatterjee started his talk by playing the famous Sri Lankan song Manike Mage Hithe. He discussed on its popularity and the fact that it has been dubbed in several languages across borders. He continued to talk on similar lines about protest songs like Bella Ciao. The use of such songs on TV series and web series was also pointed out by Prof. Chatterjee. He talked about how protest songs were used at post-Independence time so that the artist may bring more attention to particular socio-political and environmental issues. Prof. Chatterjee gave several such examples of love and protest songs which represented different nuances of human existence and transcended barriers and redefined its existence from time to time. This was illustrated with songs like We shall overcome as a gospel and later as a protest song.
Dr. Bidu Bhusan Dash, Course Coordinator, KSMC also spoke on the occasion. The session was moderated by Anamika Jha, a 3rd year student at KSMC. Faculty members and students from the school as well as from other institutes were present. Many participants including Dr Aparna Khanna from Delhi University and Dr Simi Varghese from Kerala highly appreciated the talk. At the end of the session, Nitali Johori, a master’s student, currently working as Chief Editor, unveiled the 3rd issue of KSMC Gazette (https://issuu.com/smckiit/docs/ksmc_gazette_issue_3). The session came to an end with the vote of thanks by Ms Ruby Nanda, Assistant Professor at KSMC.