Video Editor: Rahul Sanpui
Where is Arunachal Pradesh?
Is that place located in China?
Leave it friend!
Look here! The mirror has your reflection too!
Let me tell you something!
This is plus! This is minus!
Pardon your highness!
I am an Indian! Not Chinese!
The opening verse of K4 Kekho’s rap drives home the message right in the beginning of the song – it is going to talk about the disturbing issue of racism faced by the people of the Northeast.
As the song progresses, it highlights the various instances of this blatant racism, where people from the Northeast are misunderstood, mocked and murdered. From making fun of how they look, to thinking that they belong to China and Nepal, and in extreme cases, even killing them, this is a sad reality. Most people from Northeast living in metros across India have had to endure some form of racism.
K4 Kekho’s song is on a grim subject but the tone and lyrics are neither angry nor dark. It’s quirky and sarcastic. It shows a mirror to those who don’t know enough about the people from the northeast and they sometime unknowingly end up being racists just because of their ignorance.
K4 Kekho’s real name is Kekho Thianmkho. He was the winner of the winner of the first rap-riot 2015 held in Arunachal Pradesh. Kekho deliberately sings in Hindi as he wants his music to reach out to a much wider audience.
In ‘I am an Indian’ he uses colloquial Hindi of Arunachal Pradesh. The choice of Hindi in this case is intentional, it clears the notion that people from the northeast can’t speak Hindi and it is also a great unifier, clearly stating that people from Arunachal are also Indians.
(This story was first published on 24 May 2018 and has been reposted from The Quint's archives to celebrate World Music Day.)
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