SRINAGAR, INDIAN-ADMINISTERED KASHMIR – At 10, Roushan Illahi says he was too shy to recite his poems in front of his friends or in school. He shared them only with his mother.
When it came to music, he was shy too.
“I never thought I could sing, so I never did,” Illahi says.
But in 2007, Illahi debuted both his poetry and his music. He recorded his first rap song in a home studio, using only a microphone and his home computer.
Today, 20-year-old Illahi, who raps under the name MC Kash, says he is proud to be the first rapper from Kashmir. The once shy boy is now taking on the state with his rebellious rap songs. In his new music, MC Kash sings about the youth who were killed in the violent uprising last summer. He says the image of a friend’s scarred face in a coffin prompted him to use rap music as a way to tell the world about the violence in Kashmir. He says he refuses to be silent on the issue anymore.
His rap songs, including his most famous song “I Protest (Remembrance),” are available on music site ReverbNation. It has quickly become a hit among Kashmiri netizens. Illahi says it was his own form of protest about the 2010 violence that left more than 100 youth dead and wounded.
“I Protest, Against The Things You Done!
I Protest, Fo' A Mother Who Lost Her Son!
I Protest, I'll Throw Stones An' Neva Run!
I Protest, Until My Freedom Has Come!
I Protest, Fo' My Brother Who's Dead!
I Protest, Against The Bullet In His Head!
I Protest, I'll Throw Stones An' Neva Run!
I Protest, Until My Freedom Has Come!”
“It was a protest against what was happening, as well as a remembrance for those who lost their lives,” Illahi says in an interview with The Press Institute. “I want people to remember them forever.”
In his first few songs made public, Illahi’s music was not political. But in 2010,when Kashmir was overwhelmed by politics and violence, he says he knew it was time for a change.
At least 110 people, mostly young people, were killed last summer when police fired repeatedly on civilian protesters in Indian-administered Kashmir. The fatal cycle of killings and protests began on June 11, when a police tear gas shell killed a teenager returning home from a private tutoring center. The killing triggered protests that were met with more force.
When army troops took control of the streets and tried to enforce a curfew, the violence continued. Even funeral processions attracted violence. The government clamped down on the people with undeclared curfews, harsh restrictions, beatings and force. News channels and newspapers were blacked out for more than a week, and text messaging service was banned.
“Every morning the newspaper would carry a new face, or a couple of faces, of more guys killed in protests,” Illahi says. “It hurt everyone. I was like, if I don’t do something about it, what is my worth? ‘I Protest’ came out when 65 young men were already in their graves.”
Illahi recorded his song in the midst of the turbulence, when the year’s death toll stood at 65. He recites all 65 names in the song.
“There were people who would say, ‘Oh! How many are they?’” Illahi says. “I wanted to scream, there are many more than I have named.”
With peace relatively restored, Illahi says it was the perfect opportunity to take his message to a larger audience. He is active on social networking sites like Facebook and YouTube. Then, Illahi found ReverbNation, an online site that allows unsigned artists to upload and share their own music.
Today, MC Kash tops the Reverb rap charts from Kashmir. He has more than 3,300 online fans and his songs have been played more than 8,000 times.
The site, he says, is a great way to garner support for Kashmir from people all over the world.
“Let us educate people about our cause,” he says. “That is what artists, musicians and painters can do.”
Illahi says he’s frustrated that the world remains unaware of the situation in Kashmir and he wants to be the voice of Kashmir for the world. “I want people to Google Kashmir, thinking, let me see what this issue is all about,” Illahi says.
He believes that his choice of genre is a good way to reach foreign audiences.
“Rap is the best medium for expression,” he says. “It is about expressing real things, not imaginary stuff as in love songs.”
But as his popularity grows, MC Kash says he is also encountering bigger problems. Today, he can’t find a studio that will allow him to record his controversial music.
“The studio I recorded ‘I Protest’ in was raided by police,” he says. “Right now I am not getting a studio.”
But, for now, Illahi says he isn’t worried about the threats that could arise as his work gets increased attention.
“What I am doing is right,” Illahi says. “I say the truth. I do what is right. I write what I see.”
A management student at a local college in Srinagar, Illahi was born just one year after the armed insurgency against Indian rule began in Kashmir.
“Like everyone else, I was also affected,” Illahi says. “I have breathed the air of conflict and [I] am still exhaling. I am born in Kashmir so the scars will always remain.”
