KATHMANDU: A
14-year-old boy has used rap music as the tool to raise a voice against the
existing practice of untouchability that denies Dalit people social equality.
Sakshat Pant, a ninth grader of Gyanodaya Bal Batika School, today released his first rap video titled 'Tara Ma Dalit'. The rap song is an imagination of the cruelty by so-called "upper caste" people against a Dalit boy and conveys strongly that the lives of Dalits matter.
Inspired by Navaraj BK of Jajarkot, who was killed by a group of "upper caste" locals of Rukum West in May this year, the music video begins with the introduction of a Dalit youth who was murdered for trying to reclaim his rights.
"As a boy born and brought up in a non-Dalit family who was taught both at home and school that all people are born equal, the killing of Navaraj disturbed me very badly. It made me a self-declared anti-caste activist. Thus, I wrote down my feelings and decided to convert those lines into a rap song," said Sakshat. "I have a deep interest in hip-hop music. So I chose this medium to share my feelings on caste-based untouchability."
The music video ends with the demand for freedom from caste-based discrimination and equality for Dalits. "I am so happy to make my singing debut on a song that is about caste-based discrimination. I don't want what happened to Navaraj to happen to other Dalit boys and girls. Now I will take this step forward by continuing to voice against different forms of social ills existing in our society," said Sakshat.
While Sakshat himself is the lyricist of the song, singer Aditi Adhikari has lent the chorus. The music is composed by Aman Pradhan and directed by Rahul Pradhan.
Source: The Himalayan Time
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