Mahal Kita by Emmy The Great

“Mahal Kita” is a song about Emmy The Great's time interviewing migrant women in Hong Kong’s Central District.

Emmy The Great speaks more on the experiences and interviews that inspired “Mahal Kita”:

“Since the early 1980’s, domestic workers have congregated in Hong Kong’s public spaces every Sunday, their weekly statutory rest day, and on a further ten public holidays.

Tens of thousands of women sit on cardboard or plastic mats, in the shadow of five-star hotels, major bank buildings, and storefronts with luxury brandnames etched across them in glowing cursive.

They picnic, or cut hair, hold beauty competitions, bridal showers, take part in dance routines. They reclaim public space and transform it into a sanctuary, a place to relax, to share information, to cement networks of support and camaraderie.

There are 380,000 migrant workers in Hong Kong, earning a minimum wage of approx US$550 a month. They are mostly women, many of whom are mothers working to support their families.

For the many workers who suffer abuse, the Sunday gatherings are an essential route to access help, or to learn about their rights.

This is why it Central is the spiritual home of Hong Kong’s migrant activist community, who have been advocating for migrant women since they first arrived in the city.

Mahal Kita is a record of my time interviewing domestic workers in Hong Kong, where I was born.

I hope this song will be a tribute to every migrant worker who took Hong Kong’s public space and made it their own.”