Meet Odisha migrant worker Duleswar Tandi who raps to express his anguish

Duleswar Tandi got responses from Vishal Dadlani and a local recording studio after his rap went viral

Emerging as a voice of the migrant workers, a 27-year-old Dalit man's rap song has garnered the attention of many, including Vishal Dadlani, after a video of it went viral on social media.

A resident of Odisha’s Kalahandi district, Duleswar Tandi, expressed his anguish on the plight of migrant workers after several of his friends who worked in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka could not return home because of the lockdown through his rap lyrics. He himself returned to his village in Borda from Raipur, Chhattisgarh, just a day before the lockdown was announced, according to a report by Hindustan Times.

“As I watched the Covid cases grow in China, the US and European countries, I could sense that it was a matter of weeks before the virus comes to India. So I decided to come back,” said Tandi.

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A graduate in Chemistry, Tandi left home after his mother had to undergo a surgery in 2014 in Visakhapatanam. In 2017, his father, Nilamani Tandi, passed away. He was a farmer and a local police station assistant. With the added burden of a mortgaged two-acre land for Rs 50,000, he had to leave behind his dream to be a doctor and migrate to Raipur where he wiped tables and washed dishes to make a living.

Nicknamed Rapper Dule Rocker in Kalahandi, Tandi used to rap from his college days. In 2014, someone from Punjab saw one of his videos on Facebook and called him to perform in Chandigarh. “It was a new experience for me as I performed in different competitions,” he said.

Seeing the videos of migrant workers walking or cycling in dire conditions stoked Tandi’s angst. He expressed his anger at the politicians in a rap called ‘Telling the truth’, calling them thieves. In May, he posted 'Sun Sarkar, Sat Katha' in which he rapped about how the coronavirus disease and subsequent distress came as a rude jolt to migrant workers.

Recently, he rapped ‘Sarkar, tui jabab de’ (Government, give us an answer), where he alleged the government only bothers about people when the election is around the corner but otherwise it remains unconcerned.

After his rap gained popularity, Odia singer Humane Sagar gave him Rs 30,000 and a local studio expressed interest in recording his music.

Vishal Dadlani, music composer and playback singer responded to Tandi’s video saying, “This is incredible! @DuleRocker, if you need help producing/ recording/ releasing your music, get in touch. I'll do what I can. I'm sure we all will!”

Tandi added that his songs are about common people and their hardships, “I don’t want to promote sleaze or liquor in my songs. Migrant workers like us have too many issues. Those things would find a place in my songs,” he said.