It has been a busy day for Uday Kapur as he logs onto the Zoom call. Co-founder of Azadi Records, Kapur has been among the disruptors on the rapidly changing horizon of Indian music. With the label set to embark on a four-city tour to celebrate its fifth anniversary, Kapur still believes in the revolution they set out to spark.

It all started with a term paper during his undergraduate years in Delhi University, he reveals. “The term paper on protest music focussed on the book of protest songs that IPTA (Indian People’s Theatre Association) used to release. At that point, I noticed there was no urban protest music coming from the streets,” Kapur says. This desire for a rebellious voice led to Azadi Records, founded with musician Mo Joshi in 2017. Against the industry practice of teaming up with popular performers, the label set out to discover voices away from the mainstream glamour of urban hip-hoppers. They have succeeded with talents like Ali Saffudin, Ahmer Javed, Swadesi, Rebel 7 and Prabh Deep, among others.