Adil Najam
A reader sent me a link to this video: A rap song on Pakistan, in French.
I should confess that I do not understand French and I am not really big on rap – except the kind from Yaqub Atif Bulbula.
But the song is catchy and the home-made video endearing in its own way. Just from the key words I can understand, it seems like a group of young second-generation French-Pakistanis expressing their ‘Pakistaniat.’ And that is a feeling one sees often in second generation diaspora. So, I thought I would share this as a weekend post; hopefully there is nothing in the lyrics that I would regret, and if there is please let me know.
Uth Jawanah Tera mulk lutaya wich hanere
Eday chini we mengi Eday Atta we Menga
Par mere mulk di Dulanr paway ik ik lakh da lenga
Copying Gangsters! What next smoking pot?
Couldn’t they invent their own signs and gestures?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFK6H_CcuX8
Nothing to be proud of here. Typical mal-adjusted youth trying to be “different” in western countries. Calling women in their own (yes they are not Pakistani) country whores while singing the virtue of a country they probably have never visited (or at most do so once-twice a year). I wish no one posts the translation of this song. And all Pakistanis think of this as only virtuous , it leaves a sour taste.
There also seems to be a website dedicated to covering and promoting Pakistani Hip Hop, It is a very interesting website
http://tinyurl.com/3fqhc8h
Good video, Hip Hop is growing with popularity all over Pakistan and with overseas Pakistanis as well
you should check out “Lazarus” He is a rapper and medical doctor who recently did a hip hop version of a nustral fatah ali khan song!
Lazarus – “Drug of Choice” f/ Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – Official Music Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tX0erxqjM0
Before the bullet hits he is talking about unity and solidarity, then says: My first name is Pakistani. We don’t give a crap about the 14th July, we celebrate August 14th. My country has become a site for the media [the bullet hits] he says that the media has portrayed his country as full of pain/bullet, when it’s actually a colorful place. They portray us as terrorists. Then he goes on to say that women aren’t whores in his country. People follow Islam, Pakistan is number one, thanks to Quaid-e-Azam. [loose translation]