A Melbourne based artist, who was deeply affected by the gruesome incident which claimed the lives of six Dalit men in Western Nepal, has made a fitting tribute – via a music video.
Mr. Rashaili, a popular videographer within the South Asian Community of Melbourne, dedicated the song to Nabaraj Bishwakarma and his friends, who were beaten up and thrown into the Bheri River on Saturday, 24th May. Mr. Bishwakarma, a person who hails from the Dalit community had fallen in love with a 17 year old ‘upper caste’ girl. He, along with 17 friends were on their way to the girl’s village to help her elope (with the girl’s consent) – however, family members and villagers, who hadn’t approved of the relationship, beat the group of boys, which resulted in the death of the Nabaraj and 5 other friends.
The incident drew wide criticism, and re-opened the debate about ‘Nepal’s progress towards achieving equality’.
The song was composed and sung by Dipendra Shah (Nepali Bros) to the lyrics of Diwas Jung Shah. The digital composition was arranged and mastered by Jagdip Singh Khati, and make up artist was Kusum. The video was directed by Mr. Rashaili and was produced under the banner of MNTV Australia.
Upon asking Mr. Rashaili about the purpose of the video:
“The Rukum incident deeply affected me, I began to think about Nabaraj and what his fault was? I wanted to pay a tribute to him, and also raise awareness on the issue – therefore got together with a few artists and compiled the song. Our main intention here is that no other life should be lost owing to caste-based discrimination”.
