Six member transgender band fights prejudice with music in India
- 7 years ago
India's first transgender band is still fighting prejudice despite the fame the band has gained with their music.
The 6 Pack Band was formed last year and climbed to fame with an album of six songs, garnering one million views in the first 10 hours of their first song being uploaded to the Internet. But life is still tough for its six transgender members.
Fida Khan, 25, left home at 15 to join other transgenders. She returned home at the age of 20 and was reluctantly accepted back by her family.
Her earnings came from singing at weddings and celebrations for newborns -- a common way transgenders earn their money.
For hijras, transgender people who are born male in India, they find it difficult to get conventional jobs, often having to resort to begging and sex work.
Now Khan is a part of 6 Pack Band.
"This band is not just a band. It's a movement. It's a movement for transgender community. Because this is the first band ever in the world which is being created for transgenders by transgenders. The songs are for transgenders," said Khan.
The band was created last year by a Bollywood production house, which held a countrywide search that saw 600 transgenders took part in auditions.
Despite the band’s growing popularity, Ravina Jagtap, the most senior group member, says life is still full of challenges.
"We want to do a lot. We want to use our talents. We have dreams but no one gives us the opportunity," said Jagtap.
For a long time, India's transgender community, with estimates numbering in the millions, has been an oppressed sexual minority.
In the year 2014, India's supreme court gave their fight for equality a boost when it gave them the status of the third gender. But despite the landmark ruling, the fact remains that socially, as well as legally, they are discriminated against.
Although the band has won instant fame, the band members are still struggling to make ends meet.
After recording the first six songs, the band didn't get enough work. But they have not lost hope.
"Nothing is impossible. Even impossible says it is possible. So I hope that one day we don't need [to have] reservations [regarding transgenders] in this world, we can just say that yes, I am a human being and gender should not matter," said Khan.
Transgender people in India might be recognized as the third gender officially, but the road to changing the cultural mindset is not an easy one.
The 6 Pack Band was formed last year and climbed to fame with an album of six songs, garnering one million views in the first 10 hours of their first song being uploaded to the Internet. But life is still tough for its six transgender members.
Fida Khan, 25, left home at 15 to join other transgenders. She returned home at the age of 20 and was reluctantly accepted back by her family.
Her earnings came from singing at weddings and celebrations for newborns -- a common way transgenders earn their money.
For hijras, transgender people who are born male in India, they find it difficult to get conventional jobs, often having to resort to begging and sex work.
Now Khan is a part of 6 Pack Band.
"This band is not just a band. It's a movement. It's a movement for transgender community. Because this is the first band ever in the world which is being created for transgenders by transgenders. The songs are for transgenders," said Khan.
The band was created last year by a Bollywood production house, which held a countrywide search that saw 600 transgenders took part in auditions.
Despite the band’s growing popularity, Ravina Jagtap, the most senior group member, says life is still full of challenges.
"We want to do a lot. We want to use our talents. We have dreams but no one gives us the opportunity," said Jagtap.
For a long time, India's transgender community, with estimates numbering in the millions, has been an oppressed sexual minority.
In the year 2014, India's supreme court gave their fight for equality a boost when it gave them the status of the third gender. But despite the landmark ruling, the fact remains that socially, as well as legally, they are discriminated against.
Although the band has won instant fame, the band members are still struggling to make ends meet.
After recording the first six songs, the band didn't get enough work. But they have not lost hope.
"Nothing is impossible. Even impossible says it is possible. So I hope that one day we don't need [to have] reservations [regarding transgenders] in this world, we can just say that yes, I am a human being and gender should not matter," said Khan.
Transgender people in India might be recognized as the third gender officially, but the road to changing the cultural mindset is not an easy one.