Norwegian hip-hop duo releases music video on Pinoy au pairs

CEBU, Philippines – Karpe Diem, an award-winning Norwegian hip hop duo, has just uploaded a new music video of a song about Filipino au pairs in Norway.

Au pairs are domestic assistants, usually in their mid to late teens or up to their late 20s, that are invited by a host family of a foreign country to live with them and experience their culture in exchange for housework and child care chores.

Norway is one of the European countries where the au pair program has grown in popularity in recent years, with around 3,000 au pairs reported this year. But it seems like it is also the only country where the program has generated controversy with one report boldly declaring au pairs as “underpaid maids” citing a Filipina au pair named Nicole as an example.

Another television documentary, “Herskap og tenarar (Masters and Servants)”, which aired on Norway’s government-run network NRK in 2013, highlighted the abuse and exploitation of several Filipino au pairs in the country.

In this light, the rap duo’s music video for their song “Au Pair” may be interpreted as a revenge fantasy scenario. It starts off with a Norwegian family about to leave their suburban house for what appears to be a family outing as an a capella Filipino version of “The Lord’s Prayer” or “Ama Namin” is sung by a male voice in the background.

Cut to a scene of a Mass in a church with several male Filipinos in the background as “Ama Namin” is still sung. One churchgoer wearing sports gear, presumably a Filipino au pair, receives a text message purportedly from his host Norwegian family that they have left the house. He then gleefully tells his friends that he has an extra key to the house.

The video then cuts back to the house where the group with several more of their Filipino friends, including a few dressed in drag as well as Karpe Diem themselves (Magdi Omar Ytreeide Abdelmaguid and Chirag Rashmika), are seen partying complete with a lechon still being roasted, cocktails and drinks.

Although the song is rapped in Norwegian, translated lyrics reveal a line about “Pernilles is from Manila, in my childhood she was my mom…,” possibly a reference to a 2013 newspaper report about au pairs attending Parent-Teachers Association meetings in lieu of the children’s parents.

A Norwegian neighbor, apparently disturbed by the party’s noise, knocks on the door and asks the Filipino au pair in Norwegian and English to stop the party as his words are subtitled in Filipino.

The party does not stop. — InterAksyon.com