Ahmer's 'Alive in K II' Turns Pain, Politics and Hope Into Art

Kashmiri artist's latest EP is a profound meditation on memory, politics and personal truth

- SPANDAN FULKAR

Ave you ever had that moment when you hear a song and instantly know something's different? That was me in 2019, just scrolling through random tracks, when I stumbled upon Ahmer's “Elaan” with Prabh Deep and Sez On The Beat.

Now here's the thing: I didn't even know what Koshur was at the time, but whatever Ahmer was spitting, it went straight to the gut. His words came so harsh that the language barrier just melted away. It wasn't about the interpretation of bars and their meaning, rather it was the intensity, the rawness, which came through. Ahmer wasn't just rapping but he was taking you to a deeper part where something greater was going on, in a place where you cannot ignore.

Fast forward into today, Ahmer's new project Alive in K II is a logical natural evolution of what he has been building since those early days. If you rewind through his albums such as Little Kid Big Dreams, Inqalab, or Azli, you know he is a storyteller, a voice for Kashmir that refuses to be silenced. Each of these efforts has stripped away layers of what it means to exist in a place like Kashmir, one of the most misunderstood regions in the world. With Alive in K II, Ahmer isn't just telling that story; he's digging deeper.

In a conversation with Rolling Stone India, Ahmer opens up on the fact that Alive in K II is more than just a sequel. It is a reflection of the growth in him as an artist and as a person. “The stories in