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Everything wrong with:
CURRY - NORAZO
(카레 - 노라조)
CURRY - NORAZO
(카레 - 노라조)
Norazo has finally apologized for making this horrible song but I’m still upset about it and I feel like a lot of people still don’t understand the extent of its cultural insensitivity and racism.
Besides using stereotypes about South Asian people, this song also disrespects the Hindu religion, and there are some strangely specific references to South Asian culture in the lyrics that make me uncomfortable.
During this thread, I will be using both India/Indian and South Asia/South Asians (which includes people from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka)
I’ll only be analyzing the lyrics of the song. The music video is a whole other cup of tea. They’re doing stereotypical dances, head bobbing and using mudras (hand symbols) in a disrespectful and mocking manner. You can watch it here.
Please note that my interpretation is based on the English translation of the song, which may not be completely accurate. You can find it here: https://lyricstranslate.com/en/ 카레-curry-카레-curry.html
There is nothing fundamentally wrong about making a song about curry. Nor is there anything wrong with saying it’s yellow or spicy. Saying it doesn’t smell nice, however, is more complex than just disliking the smell.
There is a widespread stereotype that South Asians smell bad or smell like curry, that they don’t clean themselves properly. This is insulting and racist to say and imply. South Asian people do not have curry in their blood.
The random inclusion of the word “Taj Mahal” is this song’s first instance of blatant cultural insensitivity. Sure, you’re writing a song about curry, but what does the Taj Mahal have to do with that?
Moving on, Norazo continues with “add onion and potatoes but not beef”. There’s nothing inherently wrong with stating an ingredient list in your song, but the inclusion of “not beef” is strangely specific.
Hindus, the biggest religious group in India, do not eat beef because they consider the cow to be a sacred animal. But what does the beef in India have to do with curry in Korea?
This next paragraph is where it gets weird.
“Don’t mix with your left hand, do it with your right hand.” Now this is really just weird. This is the weirdest, most randomly specific detail to include in a song. Let me explain why.
“Don’t mix with your left hand, do it with your right hand.” Now this is really just weird. This is the weirdest, most randomly specific detail to include in a song. Let me explain why.
A lot of people in South Asia still eat with their hands. There is nothing unsanitary about eating with your hands, as long as you wash them properly before you eat. It’s down to personal preference whether you do or not.
Among those that do eat with their hands, people in South Asia use their right hand to eat, and their left hand to do other activities deemed “unclean”, such as wiping your butt, taking off your shoes, cleaning your feet.
The left hand is deemed to be unclean, and for manners’ sake most people use their right hand to shake hands, pay with cash, and so on. Even lefties follow these social conventions. Thus, most South Asians would mix food with their right hand and not their left.
Now read the lyrics again. What does this social custom have to do with curry? I have no idea. It’s weird and kinda rude to put this in a song. Are you writing a song about curry or about South Asia?
This verse starts off strong with the word “shanti.” This word has religious significance. You might be able to get away with putting it in a song (for example, “Om Shanti Om”) but Norazo aren’t South Asian or Hindu, so it feels very mocking and insensitive.
Making a song about curry? Want to give it an “ethnic flair”? Throw in some “shanti”s, they say that all the time, don’t they?
Moving on, there’s “yoga fire”, which is a move by Street Fighter character Dhalsim. But making reference to one of the very few well-known brown characters found in pop culture only goes to show you how little they know about real South Asians.
There’s also “India India Indian cider” in case you were unclear on which country Norazo is referencing :)
Again with the Taj Mahal, and this time with “namaste” thrown in. Namaste is a greeting commonly used in India. It’s one of the few Hindi words foreigners seem to know.
There’s nothing wrong with putting “namaste” in a song. It’s not any worse than throwing in “bonjour” or “nihao”. A bit random, yeah, but not offensive. But its inclusion in the song only furthers Norazo’s epic show of cultural insensitivity.
In conclusion, rather than making a song about curry, it feels like Norazo has created a song that mocks South Asians and South Asian culture every step of the way, by throwing every single fact, random word, and stereotype they knew about South Asians into it.
Whether it was their intention or not to use South Asian culture for laughs, I’m not sure. But people are offended, and justifiably so. This song is literally written on stereotypes. “Shanti curry yoga fire spicy taj mahal shanti shanti curry yoga fire cows namaste.”
It’s culturally insensitive and mocks the culture of the Indian subcontinent, demeaning over one billion people and diaspora all around the world to nothing but stereotypes, all in the name of celebrating curry.
