Punjabi Folk Music's Rebel Spirit: From War Ballads to Hip-Hop

Being a rebel has been an oft-repeated theme in Punjabi folk music. From the war ballads of the Sikh era to the Sufi resistance against orthodoxy to the movement against the three farm laws, its DNA is saturated with songs of rebellion. At its core, Punjabi folk music is shaped by harvest songs, Sufi verses byBulleh Shahand Shah Hussain, and tales of love and loss, forming an integral part of an entire cultural consciousness. From artistes like Surinder Kaur, Kuldeep Manak, Prakash Kaur, and Gurdas Mann to hip-hop flagbearers like the late Sidhu Moose Wala, Imran Khan, Bohemia, Dr Zeus, and others, Punjabi music, folk and otherwise, has become a global powerhouse. When hip-hop washed ashore, Punjabi singers found it had a familiar energy. Many chose rap as their language of expression, talking about identity, migration, class, politics, and personal struggle. Yet, in this fierce, the quieter, soul-stirring threads of Punjab got buried with social media trends steering it to catchy hooks, wedding staples, and party anthems.