COVID19- Coronavirus Bhojpuri Playlist

The world is under crisis with the coronavirus pandemic. Airports are on high alert, infected people are being quarantined, countries are on lockdown and virologists are trying to create a vaccine as 16,471 have already died due to the disease. 

The Bhojpuri music industry, however, is cashing in on the ‘trend’ by releasing songs on the subject. Instead of spreading awareness, these numbers are highly crass and insensitive. Here are a few of them available on YouTube.

Singer Govind Barbar was quoted saying, “Everyone is talking about coronavirus, that’s why I wrote a song on it.” Nirala Bidesia added,

“Now everyone uses Auto-Tune to keep tracks ready. Any time something happens, they just squeeze the lyrics in. But in the race to be the first to sing on a topic means they often overlook whether they are being sensitive.”

These sexualised songs, needless to say, are spreading racism, joking about Chinese eating habits and unscientific ‘cures’ for the same. The description of the novel coronavirus is also based on the rumours going around on the internet.

At a time when the World Health Organization is trying its best to curb fake news and misinformation, these songs are undoing all their hard work, don’t you think?