How many roads must a man walk down before he wins a Nobel prize?

Bob Dylan’s songs, which touched upon social and political conditions among others, have been influential for the past five decades. Now,  with him winning the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature, “for having created new poetic expressions,” he becomes the first musician to win the award, and join the likes of poets and authors such as T.S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway and Gabriel García Márquez, among others.

His win, however, has started a debate: Do lyrics have the same artistic values as poems and novels do?

“Anyone who has read the poetry in his songs already worship him for the true poet that he is, and always will be. Dylan has always sung about love, equality and highlighted social problems through his lyrics. His songs emphasised on the pressing issues of his times. He even had concerts against the Vietnam war right when it was happening. He is truly a messenger of love and peace and deserves this kind of acknowledgment on a global level,” says Nitin Malik, vocalist, Parikrama.

Popular lyricist Irshaad Kamil, who has written the lyrics for many movies, including the recent Sultan and Tamasha, however feels that it is too soon to comment if this move will open up more avenues for lyricists.

Irshaad says, “Bob Dylan is a singer and a songwriter. How many people in India do you find who write their own songs and sing them? The indie music is still growing in the country. We make a lot of songs for movies, which are very situational. But I think this award will push lyricists to be more open about their thoughts while they write their lyrics. Stories, poems, songs, are all a way of entertainment. So one shouldn’t be surprised if a songwriter gets the Nobel Prize for Literature. This is a welcome change but at this level, it is too soon to judge if it will open up new avenues for the lyricists.”

Renowned lyricists, Prasoon Joshi, adds, “Poet and lyricist Dylan truly democratised literature. He had liberated words from the stranglehold of the classists and freed them from their destiny. Sometimes the boundaries of art and literature get too narrowly defined by a few. Dylan being awarded the Nobel Prize is a signal that the archaic lens through which art is very oft seen has been wiped clean and a fresher perspective is in play. Hopefully, this will expand horizons and we as a society will be able to free artists from compartments and see the contribution of good lyricists as an igniter of thoughts.”

Kamakshi Khanna, singer, feels that a song winning accolades in the same space as literature, gives us all a new perspective and meaning to what we do. She says,  “Listening to Dylan’s body of work is a course, a learning experience in itself. He understands the internal process so well, and is so self-aware. He also says that song writing is his preceptor and guide into some altered consciousness of reality, some different republic, some liberated republic. This according to me, makes him the most apt choice for this prize.”

However, poet and author Nilesh Mondal, whose latest poetry book, Degrees of Separation, will be out early next year, says that the award will open up exciting opportunities in future. “I’ve been in a conflicting state of mind since I’ve heard the news. His words are indeed revolutionary, and have been exemplary in giving people courage and the willingness to raise their voices against the existing status quo time and again. At the same time, whether or not that is adequate enough for someone to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, is debatable.”

He goes on to talk about whether the prize should remain solely for authors and poets, “As someone said, a musician's work is dependent on his music as much as it is on the lyrics. If it is read instead of sung, it would probably lose a part of its true essence. This isn’t true for an author. However, considering that this year’s awards have also shown that literature can break through the boundaries of traditional written words and gone to celebrate oral literature, it opens up exciting possibilities for the future indeed.”
— Inputs by Kaavya Pillai and Aditi Pancholi