Mekh man daje is a traditional song performed by Roma youth from Warsaw’s Praga Południe district. By rapping and singing the song, the teenagers talk about themselves and their identity.
„Mekh man daje” or „Let me” is a traditional song sung in Roma homes. Its selection was proposed by Krystyna Perła Markowska, a Roma artist, singer, activist and leader of the band „Perła i Bracia”. It was Perła who took care of preserving the identity of this song so that it wouldn’t get lost in our hip-hop adaptation.
Sound workshops were led by Adam Bieliński of the Sound Academy and breakdance workshops were conducted by Aneta Woźnicka-Łada, a zumba instructor associated with the Reggaeton vs Dancehall agency. Classes on new technologies and the use of social media for self-promotion were run by Paulina Jędrzejewska from the Culture Shock Foundation. During all the classes, Małgorzata Brus from Fundacja Dom Kultury and Leszek Wejcman from Leon Studio accompanied us with cameras. After a very intense, almost three months of work, the kids recorded a hip-hop version of „Mekh man daje” and performed a dance. A rich visual material was created, from which we made a music video. Unprecedented in Poland.
The main authors of the success are the project participants:
Alwaro, Angela, Dawid, Edmund, Olivia, Kamil, Kewin, Niko, Ricardo, Santino, Wanda, Virginia, Zuzanna.
In “Mekh man daje” they sing about things of importantce to them: adventure, getting to know each other, growing up, shared identity. They acknowledge the necessity of both drawing from the multi-generational experience of their own community and interacting with majority society.
Process
“Mekh man daje” or „Let” is a traditional song sung in Romani houses. This selection was proposed by Krystyna Perła Markowska, a Romani artist, singer, activist, leader of the band „Perła i Bracia”. Perła carefully ensured that the essential identity of this song was preserved in the hip-hop arrangement.
Sound workshops were conducted by Adam Bieliński from the Academy of Sound. Aneta Woźnicka-Łada, a Zumba instructor associated with the Reggaeton vs Dancehall agency, did the breakdance choreography. Leszek Wejcman from Leon Studio directed and edited the visual material.
The video and the recording of the song were created as part of the „Romano Hip-Hopo” project, funded by the National Institute of Liberty from the 2014-2020 Civic Initiatives Fund Programme.
