In October 2018, Music in Exile traveled to Bangladesh to record Rohingya refugees who fled violence in Myanmar.

Based out of the southern town of Cox’s Bazar and with the help of a fixer/interpreter, we interviewed and recorded musicians in refugee camps and informal settlements. 

Who are the Rohingya?

The Rohingya are a minority in Myanmar (Burma) that has long suffered persecution on account of their Muslim faith. The 1974 constitution forced them to carry identity cards that labeled them as “foreigners,” despite living in the country for generations. In 1982, they were denied full citizenship. In 2014, the census forced them to choose between being “Bengali” and being able to vote. Their travel, education, and access to health care is restricted.

Over the years, they have been targeted by the military, extremist Buddhists, and political groups. But the situation escalated in August 2017, when clashes between the military and a militant Rohingya group triggered a brutal government crackdown. There was indiscriminate killing, detention, torture, kidnapping, rape, and the burning of villages. Some 700,000 Rohingya fled across the border into neighboring Bangladesh. Those that remain in Myanmar—numbering around 100,000—suffer systemic oppression which New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof has described as a “genocide in slow motion.“

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has called it “the most urgent refugee emergency in the world.”

Why Rohingya music?

Few musical recordings have been made in Rohingya villages or refugee camps. The lack of documentation of this persecuted group underscores the need to preserve its cultural and musical traditions.

Despite increasing media attention on the crisis, most reports focus solely on the atrocities refugees have faced and not on their culture and memory—an essential part of their story gets left behind. The international community cannot relate to them on a human level.

What is Rohingya music like?

Little has been written in English about the music of Rohingya, and few high-quality recordings of their traditional music exist.

But the Rohingya have strong musical traditions, particularly with an 8-string mandolin. Other popular instruments include the harmonium (a pump organ common on the Indian subcontinent), and various drums and percussion instruments. Their song lyrics come from folklore and the artists themselves, offering a glimpse into their history and modern ways of coping with pain and conflict.

Our mixed and mastered recordings will be available to stream for free on Music in Exile’s SoundCloud account.