When the heat hits the hardest, the ‘Sollisai Sistahs’ ask: who can stay cool?

A neem tree can be many things – a village meeting place, a place to sit, relax and escape the harsh afternoon sun for a few minutes. The Sollisai Sistahs in Veppa Marathadiyila, Tamil Nadu’s first all-female rap team, turn this familiar image into a larger question: when the climate crisis comes, who gets the shade?

The collective is known for their songs that challenge societal norms, particularly around caste and gender, while remaining rooted in the communities they hail from. Their new Tamil rap track is part of the Climate Emergency Mixtape, a multilingual hip-hop album that brings together six independent artists from across India to tell stories about the climate crisis in Tamil, Kannada, Marathi and Hindi.

Rather than emissions targets, degrees of warming and policy agendas, the mixtape looks at climate change through people’s lived experiences – water scarcity, deforestation, resource use, flooding and the communities that must deal with the consequences.

Rappers Abisha and Kavya in Alangudi village of Mayiladuthurai district where the video was shot. | Photo credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

For the Sollisai Sistas, the climate crisis is inseparable from issues of caste, class, gender and work. In Veppa Marathadiyila, they turn their attention to the people who are often absent from conversations about climate change, the working and marginalized communities who have the least control over the forces causing environmental degradation but often bear its consequences.

“Climate change is still seen as an issue discussed only in the ‘elite’ sphere. But who is affected the most? Marginalized communities,” says Abisha of the Sollisai Sistahs.

The group started thinking about these questions a few years ago when they worked with the environmental organization Poovulagin Nanbargal on a project related to environmental issues. This engagement, Ms. Abisha says, introduced them to a different way of looking at the climate crisis because it is deeply linked to inequality.

“When capitalist industries use natural resources and then affect the environment, tribal communities are affected,” he says. “So we need to talk about these issues.

This idea runs through Veppa Marathadiyila. The song addresses the intersection of climate, work and marginalization, asking what is lost when floods and other climate-related disasters hit communities with little room to absorb the next shock. His verses ask who is left to bear the loss, with questions like, “When the flood comes, whose houses collapse? When the mountain crumbles, whose village disappears?”, and whether some of these losses could have been prevented with better planning.

“We shot the video in Alangudi village in Mayiladuthurai district. It was Sudharshan’s idea who directed the video. We wanted to keep the climate conversation rooted in the landscape and the community,” said Ms. Abisha.

The song begins with an elderly woman’s arresting voice before the rap kicks in. Rani, a resident of Alangudi, also features in the video. “She was very enthusiastic about singing and performing,” Ms Abisha said, and the group decided to use her own voice in the song.

The group worked on several drafts over the course of two months and revised the lyrics based on input from Poovulagin Nanbargal. Abisha features in the video alongside Kavya, who has contributed Kannada lyrics to the song, bringing her Bengaluru connection to the track.

The Climate Emergency Mixtape is a collaboration between Youth Ki Awaaz, Kraantinari, Asar Social Impact Advisors, Folksoul and Climate Culture Collective.

Published – 19 Sep 2026 19:54 IST