'I Protest' MC Kash raps for Kashmir protest victims

[Devil Soul]

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MC Kash raps for Kashmir protest victims

His name is Roushan Illahi, but he prefers to go by his rapper title, MC Kash.

MC Kash, 20, is a student from Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir, who is hoping to make it big on the music scene.

And he is well on the way to getting there. He posts his raps on the music site ReverbNation, where he has a following of more than 2,000 people.

But it is not so much for his music, as his lyrics, that he is getting noticed.

"The last six months have been very sad for every Kashmiri," MC Kash tells BBC World Service.

He is referring to the wave of violence that has gripped the Kashmir Valley since June, and which has left more than 100 people dead.

Thousands of Kashmiris took to the streets in what were supposed to be peace marches. Some threw stones, and security forces in India's only Muslim-majority state responded with live bullets.

The track that first brought MC Kash to prominence was his title I Protest, which is about these demonstrations. It begins with news clips from the height of the violence, and ends with him listing the names of the people who had died.

One of them, Inayat Khan, was a friend of his.

"I still remember walking up to his funeral among wails and tears. I still remember the scars all over his body. I still remember shouldering his coffin," MC Kash told the BBC.


The lyrics to I Protest are graphic. MC Kash uses the term "murderous regime", when speaking of the authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir and says, "these killings ain't random", before going on to talk about an "endless occupation", and "freedom of speech subjected to strangulation".

Some regard his music as inflammatory, anti-Indian - or both.

MC Kash says it is about telling things as they are: "If somebody has a problem with my lyrics, I think they need to look into the issue of Kashmir. I think it's truth that I'm speaking.

"A lot of politicians want people to believe that nothing is wrong in Kashmir - but that's not the truth."

He insists he is not anti-Indian. He says he may collaborate with Indian artists in the future, and has been offered a slot performing in Mumbai (Bombay).

New generation

During the worst of this year's violence, people were posting videos of the demonstrations direct to YouTube and a crop of citizen-journalism websites, in an attempt to counter, or provide an alternative to, the mainstream version of events.

Analysts say there is a whole generation of young, well-educated and politically-aware Kashmiris, who feel their voices are not represented in traditional forms of media or culture.
MC Kash certainly fits this profile: he is studying business, and hopes to go on to an MBA abroad; his father is a doctor and his mother is a teacher. He has never left Kashmir, but he speaks excellent English and has taken a strategic decision to rap in English.

"English is a universal language. Kashmiris know how they have suffered. So if I went on to rap about it in Kashmiri, that would be useless."

The insurgency against Indian rule in Kashmir began in 1989 - the year before MC Kash was born. Young people like him have never known life without curfews, searches, checkpoints and all the trappings of day-to-day life in a conflict zone.

Around 70,000 people have been killed in Kashmir in MC Kash's lifetime.

MC Kash says he was inspired to write another of his tracks, Moment of Truth, after watching a documentary about Gaza.

"Gaza and Kashmir are related. A stone relates us. Humiliation relates us. Occupation relates us. Anger relates us. The human rights violations relate us. Intifada relates us," he tells the BBC.

Studio raided
Rap may seem an unusual choice for a Kashmiri artist, as it is not particularly popular in the region.

But there are parallels here with a traditional Kashmiri style of music called Ladi Shah - a highly lyrical form of story-telling performed with little, or no, instrumental accompaniment. It is based on oral tradition, and can often be political, or satirical.

For the moment, MC Kash's recording has ground to a total halt. A few weeks ago his studio was raided by police who wanted to know if there was a separatist or militant backing him.

MC Kash says he is entirely independent: "Nobody is paying me. Nobody told me to go sing about Kashmir."

His main priority is finding a new studio - something which is proving tricky, he says, as no-one seems to want to take him on after the controversy over I Protest.

He admits the raid shook him - and his parents - up: "They are proud of me. They are very supportive because they know I am doing the right thing.

"At the same time they are scared; they know the consequences. I could end up in jail."

There is a little pause.

"I hope nothing like that happens," he adds.

I Protest

I protest against the things you've done

I protest for a mother who lost her son

I protest, I will throw stones and never run

I protest until my freedom is come

I protest for my brother who is dead

I protest against the bullet in his head

I protest, I will throw stones and never run

I protest until my freedom is come

Source: extract from I Protest by MC Kash
BBC News - MC Kash raps for Kashmir protest victims

[shuntmaster]

'I Protest' .. At first, I thought it was some new gadget from Apple..

[Dance]

Good to know he is speaking out against indian atrocities

[Chinese Gandhi]

"Gaza and Kashmir are related. A stone relates us. Humiliation relates us. Occupation relates us. Anger relates us. The human rights violations relate us. Intifada relates us," he tells the BBC.

Hey I was browsing through another forum and I came across this opinion, ie pakistani emotional drumbeating when it comes to Cashmere. No offence meant to anybody.
I genuinely believe that this is the case. All hypes and no substance.

If people remember the P TV broadcasts, they have had a news section about 'Indian atrocities in occupied kashmir' ever since Pakistan TV and Radio came into being. The usual news went along the lines of "Indian forces and army have further increased their atrocities of the common people of kashmir" and"Indian forces and army have further increased false encounters and rapes of women in occupied kashmir"

I used to wonder, how can someone 'further increase' something day after day after day hain ji?
This news used to be on EVERY DAY, it still is on to this day, the only time they don't have this news is when there is a military coup there. Then P TV and Radio Pakistan will go off air for a few hours, news reporters will suddenly get neutral to the gobernment, start calling their PM by his name instead of prefixing PM to the name, and the news would sound like it is a hand out by the media cell, containing clipped fauji language to describe the events. Obviously the 'cries of kashmir' will be forgotten in view of the more important things that the media cell would have at hand.

What the Pakistanis don't realize is that they are only churning out a generation of dimwits who'll grow up listening to garbage which passes off for news and journalism, because the eye *** eye thought the best way to preserve the prime position of the pakistani army was to keep the common abdul fed with a pack of lies about their own superiority and India's atrocities.

[shuntmaster]

@ Chinese Ghandi. Are you a suicide troll?? Posting stuff here from BRF was a BIGG mistake man. You are completely busted. Wanna say goodbye before you are banned.

[Chinese Gandhi]

No offence buddy just want to say that it si negatively publicised and common people believe it as a gospel truth. Thats the gist

[Kashmiri Nationalist]

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New song from Mc Kashmir, Bow to the Ground, please support by listening