hype :: Refugee Rap

There is M.I.A., whose Tamil-Tiger parents fled to Europe. There is south-Sudanese rapper Emmanuel Jal, who recorded with north-Sudanese Oud player Abdel Gadir Salim. In Australia, there are talented emerging (and established) African-origin artists like Mr Zux, Black Symbol, Diafrix and Creator MC - some having arrived as refugees, and others have simply "arrived". We all arrive from somewhere. Arriving soon on Australian shores courtesy of Uber Lingua, are four outspoken acts from Africa.

An interesting fresh arrivee is Canada-based Somali rapper K'Naan, his war-time life experiences challenge US Afro-American ghetto artists. Download a pumpin' track of his at Fat Planet, and read his blog here. His lyrics speak of Somali gunmen, but there is much beauty in reading about his recent tour to Djibouti, neighbouring country to Somalia:

"The encore situation over there was quite funny, but beautiful too. See over there they don't wait for you to finish your performance to ask for an encore. They actually cheer for an encore when ever you finish a song that they love. So that they can all do their part to contribute to the song, some sing along, some encourage others to, some clap, some dance, but they are all apart of it. Which means I've had to perform certain songs twice in a row, some three times. It sounds crazy but it's perfectly normal in our region. It just means that the song is community. And it is to be lived in over and over again, when it feels right, when it speaks to the struggle, and all of this should be done, not latter, but now!" K'naan.