Meet singer and former MP Muhammad Sadiq, whose song from the ’80s is powering Ranveer Singh’s Dhurandhar | Art-and-culture News
When Punjabi folks singer Muhammad Sadiq recorded his song ‘Na de dil pardesi nu’ (Don’t give your coronary heart to a stranger) aka Jogi in the turbulent ’80s of Punjab marked by vital insurgency, it was below a modest contract with HMV and sung along with his singing associate Ranjit Kaur. Penned by well-liked Punjabi songwriter Babu Singh Mann and organized by Charanjit Ahuja, the song shortly discovered a spot in the village akhadas (reside performances), at weddings and had vans and tractors blaring it on their crackling cassette stereos – a litmus check for the recognition of any song. Algorithm-based music searches and Spotify chart toppers had been but to reach.
The song was revived and given a brand new lease of life in the 2000s by music producer Panjabi MC, who took the uncooked enchantment of the song and its high-pitched and shiny Punjabi tumbi riff and turned it right into a membership favorite in the British Asian underground house. The desis bonded over its beats and brassy tune typically throughout ‘daytimers’ – afternoon membership occasions, as there have been evening curfews from dad and mom and a really confined nightlife.
Two a long time later, the song is again – this time with rapper Hanumankind and singer Jasmine Sandlas layering their voices with Sadiq and Kaur’s rustic, unpolished voices in the upcoming Ranveer Singh-starrer motion thriller, Dhurandhar. Singh’s smouldering depth and the quite a few motion sequences in the just lately launched first look have been paired with this age-old Punjabi ditty in a brand new avatar. The movie will launch in December.
Sadiq, 78, is happy that the song is again in the highlight. “I lived and grew up in a village and my background is basic and traditional. Whatever I sung and whenever I made these songs, the idea was to appeal to the people from the village. The young in that generation were not so educated. Youngsters were like me and I made a song that they would like. The urban audience was never on my mind. But it was nice when it played in clubs in England. Now this film has done another version of it,” says Ludhiana-based Sadiq, who is additionally a former Member of Parliament and had gained the Indian normal election on a Congress ticket from Faridkot in 2019.
The song, which Sadiq calls an instance of “Punjabi civility and culture” makes use of figures like Heer, Sassi and Sohni – tragic heroines well-liked in Punjabi folks tales – moreover conventional Punjabi folks types. This was certainly one of Sadiq’s most vital moments; he has sung it at nearly each live performance. “I was in England last year. They are still playing it in the clubs,” he says.
Earlier this 12 months, Sadiq was the visitor artiste in world popstar Dosanjh’s Ludhiana live performance, which was part of his sold-out Dil-Luminati tour, the place he was launched as “the real OG” of Punjabi music. The two additionally sung a few songs collectively, together with Na de dil pardesi nu.
Dosanjh honoured Sadiq with a scarf and tumbi – Sadiq’s instrument – in a glass case, moreover happening his knees and bowing to him on stage. “That boy (Dosanjh) has shown the way to the younger generation and manifested what it is to respect senior artistes. It is because of him that the younger generation knows me and my music. He’s achieved so much and yet he is still so down to earth. I wish Waheguru gives him more success,” says Sadiq.
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Ranveer Singh in the movie
Born in Kup Kalan, a sleepy little village in Punjab’s Malerkotla, Sadiq grew up in a Punjabi Muslim household from the Mirasi group, historically travelling musicians and keepers of the folklore in the subcontinent, who got here from Rampur close to Ludhiana. In the village famous for its literary custom and writers like Surjit Rampuri, Gurcharan Rampuri, Joginder Singh and Surinder Rampuri, is the place Sadiq’s father, a navy man, turned a raagi in the Manji Sahab gurdwara – a major spiritual website for the Sikhs – in the close by Alamgir. So the first strains that Sadiq heard and imbibed had been that of the gurbani (hymns from Guru Granth Sahib). “Also, on my way to school, I often heard Mohammed Rafi being played in some shops and his voice mesmerised me,” says Sadiq, who would typically carry out at Bal Sabhas. He was 10 when he carried out at an occasion the place the PEPSU (Patiala and East Punjab States Union – a State that united eight princely states) Chief Minister Brish Bhan was the chief visitor and gave him Rs 100 as a reward for singing Rafi’s Jagwala mela yaaron from the 1949 album Lachhi (1949). “My mother didn’t sleep,” says Sadiq, with amusing.
He quickly started studying Hindustani classical music from Ustad Baqir Hussain of the Patiala gharana. “After learning for a few years, I realised that classical music was a niche form and heard by fewer people,” says Sadiq, who was additionally the eldest of six youngsters and wanted to work. He was about 16-17 when he joined the neighbouring natak mandali and would do small roles in Ramlila and different Punjabi performs. He would typically croon the singing parts.
In the ’80s, when duets had been the pattern, he started singing with many musicians. His recording of Laung Gawacha with Surinder Kaur stays well-known, although it has been sung and remixed by a lot of artistes. Others embrace Kurti malmal di and Sun ke lalkaara amongst others. He lastly started singing with Kaur and toured along with her for years. Even although ’80s Punjab was riddled with violence and turbulence Sadiq and Kaur continued in order that they may make a residing. This is additionally the time when Amar Singh Chamkila was singing. “The mahaul (atmosphere) was not conducive when we were singing. While I wasn’t threatened the way he was, I was asked not to sing on the platforms which were given by the Congress party. There was also the 11 people at a wedding rule for a while. After Chamkila’s death, the work just stopped. Families organising weddings stopped calling the artistes. But slowly things began improving,” says Sadiq, who says that he hasn’t acquired any royalty for the song since HMV modified fingers in 1986.
Muhammad Sadiq with Diljit Dosanjh
While Punjabi folks has discovered a brand new lease of life in Hindi cinema, questions of credit score and royalty stay unanswered. Dhurandhar producers additionally didn’t credit score Sadiq or any of the members concerned with the song earlier than it was identified by Charanjit Singh’s son on social media, the place he tagged actor Ranveer Singh. There has been no cost, after all, since the songs had been owned by labels earlier and artistes weren’t very effectively conscious of their rights. “Almost every other Hindi film either has a Punjabi tune or a glimpse of one. But the folk artistes are often left on the margins. I hope there is awareness and better credit,” says Sadiq.
