I read this article in Tehelka...written way back in September, 2004 just a lil before the world was going to witness the launch of one of the greatest stars of Sufiana Music genre the world has ever produced or witnessed. Yes guys! I am talking about RABBI SHERGILL who has at last smelled the fruits of success after 4 long years of trial for the world to start noticing him....a brilliant article which is definitely going to inspire all those who have been dreaming their dreams all these while with just one hope in their mind that someday someone shall surely notice you... just read it....
There are many things tehelka did that every spook agency in Delhi, Britain and god knows where else would love to know about. Let me be the first to tell you about Rabbi Shergill. An artist we signed on at tehelka in April 2000. A poet and a singer. Who you still havent heard of.I first heard about Rabbi in 1998 during my stint in Mumbai as Executive Producer, Channel [V]. As head of programming I was meeting all kinds of people associated with the music industry. One day, a bandanna tying KJ Singh, producer and sound engineer, told me about this sardar singer based in Delhi. He plays Sufi Punjabi music rock style! You have to hear him. KJ had recorded a demo track but wasnt carrying it. So whats he doing, I asked? Doing the rounds ...a bit unsuccessfully, I was told. Keenly aware of the inability of stunted heads at the music companies to spot the real McCoys, I stored the information for further use. All the greats in Indian pop music are those first kicked out by these guys. I knew that much. So Rabbi was off to a flyer.The millennium turned. Y2K never happened. And I never met Rabbi. I did however leave Channel [V], get divorced, increase smoking and move back to Delhi to take up the first job with the only man willing to employ me my brother! I joined Tarun and Aniruddha Bahal as a founder in the heady journey of tehelka. Rabbi was still on my mind I traced his number and called him. Sometime in May 2000, in the midst of putting together the match-fixing expose, Rabbi Shergill walked into the tehelka office. He was wearing a calm, gentle demeanor over his trademark kurta pyjama. Smart sardar, looks like a bard, I thought. He spoke fluently in Punjabi and English, narrating a familiar tale of music companies hustling him, not recognising his talent. Yeah, sure. You got a tape, I asked? Rabbi fished out a tape with just two two songs Bulla ki Jaana and Aj Nachna. I heard Rabbis music for the first time sitting in my car. It was stunning great voice, haunting lyrics and some real melody unlike any other Punjabi music I had heard. It was music that touched you, made you ache inside and yet lifted you. We went for a drive, as I listened some more, getting to know him. Tarun and Aniruddha heard the music and liked it. I pitched it to them we have to do his album, I urged. He is the real thing. For a man ready to take decisions that would soon rattle governments, it was a no-brainer. Go ahead, said Tarun. Rabbi, being a true artist, was of course ready to go with a company that had nothing to do with music, and was still buying computers!Rabbis faith was well placed. In a mercenary industry where new artists are not even advanced Rs 500, we gave Rabbi a lakh plus to go abroad and buy some music equipment he needed. Being creative owners we took the decision in five minutes. When I mentioned this a year later to Sridhar Subramanium, ceo Sony Music, he was stunned. We cant even buy a flute in a corporate set-up, he remarked. kj was contracted to identify studio, draw up a budget and get recording dates. Our message to Rabbi and kj was, just go do your music we are behind you. Over the next year, the two sardars started recording Rabbis debut album in Studio Satya, Mumbai. I would keep ducking in and out of Bombay, adding fizz to the mix.
As the dust settled over the cricket expose, Rabbis music kept trickling back to Delhi. By now Bulla ki jaana had become an anthem for us. A bunch of senior editors Kajal, Bhanot, Parsa, Shoma, Geetan had heard it playing constantly on Taruns computer, and everyone wanted a copy a sure sign of a good product! Tarun would bat them to me, and I, a specialist in being rude, refused all, wary of it being leaked. I kept refusing till November 8, 2000 when we gave Rabbis first cd away. On that day, tehelka had its first Board of Directors meeting in Taruns bright, stately office. Marked present were Sir VS Naipaul, Khushwant Singh, Amitabh Bachchan, Tarun, Aniruddha, Sudhir Verma [our ca] and me. As Tarun was explaining the tehelka vision, as only he could and still can, he mentioned the music we were producing. I played the two tracks (on the computer!). While Sir Vidia looked on disapprovingly, Amitabh gave the verdict just hearing the first two stanzas its amazing, very good. Who is he? (You do know that the Big B has a tremendous ear for music, right?) We were ecstatic. Can I get a copy, asked Amitabh? I hesitated, looked at Tarun. He nodded urgently. Cut. A few months later Shweta Bachchan Nanda dropped in at tehelka to discuss the Big B autobiography, which Amitabh wanted Tarun to handle. During a conversation about her fathers music tastes she casually dropped a bombshell. Shweta told us Amitabh listened to Rabbi all the time in his car! By now everyone in the family had heard it and liked it! Rrrrright! And he had even played it to Karan Johar and Shahrukh Khan. Whooooah. Meanwhile back to Nov 8, 2000. The Board meeting had ended. In the evening, I was dispatched to escort Sir Vidia and Nadira from their hotel to a function. Tarun gave me strict instructions dont talk, dont look, dont smoke, just try and breathe. You are going to escort the greatest living English writer in the world, and he is smarter than all of our uncles and us. Being an army kid I followed his instructions to a T with one exception. Rabbis songs were playing in my car as we drove off, with the Naipauls ensconced in the back seat. And then Sir Vidia spoke, You know Minty, that music you played today was good. I didnt understand it but it was very, very soulful, very deep. Thank you, Sir, I will send you a copy, I stuttered, half turned in my seat. And so we charged on. Rabbi swept us away with the breadth and range of his music. He was like a wandering minstrel, a bard regaling us with some fabulous Sufi music. When he sang at a party at my place, my friends were floored. When he played in our office, his originals Totian mein Motian, Tere Bin, Gill te Guitar kept resounding in our ears long after he had strummed them to the clicking of typewriter keys.
By August 2001 Bangaru Laxman had graced tv screens across the globe and a job we thought we deserved a pat for was squeezing us to death. We were attacked from all sides in bewildering ways. Zee backed off from investing in tehelka. There were death threats against Tarun and Aniruddha. Shankar Sharma was hounded, and eventually jailed. We were surrounded by cops and the cbi. The Venkataswami Commission started its proceedings. Meanwhile in far away Bombay I was hustling to realise the dream of Rabbi. We had finished recording nine tracks for his debut album and the final mix remained to be done. We were already stretched for funds. Rabbi was staying in my one bed flat in Bombay, while I stayed with friends. We were recording on credit [thanks to Vishal Bhardwaj], while kj searched the net for cheap studios. We had no money. And we wanted to do the final music mix in London. Yeah right, we Punjabis, want the tandoori chicken and the rum.
By October 2001, the three of us at Tehelka stopped taking salaries (the joys of being a founder!). Many investors led us on, but nothing happened. During the next year kj and I met all the big music guys in Bombay. On one notable day, we went to the big three Sony, Times Music and Sa Re Ga Ma [hmv]. Everyone liked Rabbis music. Some wanted to squeeze us, with others it didnt work out, the rest were scared. Sridhar Subramanium was the first to support us. Though Sony had stopped doing pop by then, he was willing to pitch in 25 lakh for duplication and distribution. But we still needed to get the money for the videos. I went to the corporates a big liquor company got excited, made big plans, stretched us for months...then nothing. Talvin Singh heard it. He tried to woo Rabbi away with offers of pounds. Rabbi unconvinced, kept him at bay. Then, in mid-2002, we met Shashi Gopal of Magnasound, for my money the savviest man in Indian pop music. The king hustler who spotted most stars from Colonial Cousins to Adnan Sami. He heard all the nine tracks, asked pertinent questions and declared it a winner! He said this was the first sound that would sell in Punjab and the rest of India. (The Punjabi music market is strange. Local Punjabi artists who are big in Punjab dont sell in the rest of India; conversely Daler is not that big in Punjab). The trick was to market him just right, he said. He would make Rabbi a star around the world, and we poor sods at tehelka were not going to get much money. Ha ha ha! thats funny. But good job done and tough shit, he patted us, and then kicked us out of his office.For the next six months Shashi Gopal kept us going. His Delhi manager, a man we were informed has a reputed ear, came home to listen to Rabbi. Good, he pronounced, it would do very well. Hit hai. Hmmm. Then Shashis suave brother-in-law flew in from Chennai. Over drinks at my house (I served my best scotch, wily tycoon that I am] he pronounced Rabbi a winner. And also told us that it was he, not Shashi who discovered Adnan Sami. Okay, but can we have some money? Yeah, yeah, soon. Then Shashi sent contracts. We negotiated. He disappeared. The seasons changed. Then around March 2003, Magnasound went bust. Shashi Gopal ki tai tai phis.Suddenly we were back to square one. Tarun, KJ, Rabbi and I spoke. We realised we had to let the dream of Rabbi being a tehelka product go it wasnt fair to Rabbi. And I, a recent father, was tired and broke. As for Rabbi, despite the frustrating gloom, or perhaps because of it, he was churning out even more involved lyrics. Amazingly he always kept the faith, knowing it would happen, appreciating the things we were trying. By now, album two, which sounded even more beautiful, had started getting ready in Rabbis head. But nothing was happening on the money front. Illai po !For a while more, we tried everything. Tarun took us to the Oswals farmhouse. Oswal Sr and Abhey Oswal Jr heard it in their private disco (yup, they got a private floor at home). Then Rabbi played on his guitar, an event that usually blows people away. Papa Oswal heard and turned to his singer son and asked Haan bhai tu bhi kuchh baja leta hai ke nahin ? Abhey, wounded, glared back. We looked on politely.
Then many big-big guys heard it. Zee Music heard it. Very good sound they agreed. Then I played Rabbi to a bunch of directors in Mumbai. Shashanka Ghosh loved it. He wanted Bulla for Waisa Bhi Hota Hai, I said cant do. He got Kailash and Allah ke Bande well done. Then Aditya Bhattacharya wanted to use Bulla for Dubai Returned. I politely declined cant give you one song. Then he wanted to cast Rabbi in his proposed film Avataar (proposal is still there guys). Then Mahesh and Pooja Bhatt heard the music. Pooja loved the sound and immediately wanted three songs for Paap. She even offered good money. Rabbi was uncomfortable starting with playback singing. Though we were at our wits end, we were forced to agree. We said no, apparently something you dont do with the Bhatts. Pooja got pissed off with me. Okay, what now, we thought. They all loved the music, but wanted bits and parts, never the whole. We were not willing to do that.Then in August 2003, I played Rabbis music to Anand Surapur, the director of Phat Phish, a young Bombay-based, independent film-making company. Anand had earned his spurs in Channel [V], producing some of the Channels best known promos. He immediately offered to get involved in the project. Anand too had a dream of setting up an independent music label, to promote real music, not re-mixes, and screechy sound. And unlike all the big boys, he was willing to put up the money. In November 2003, KJ, Rabbi and I went to London to do the final mix in Townhouse Studios. Yesss! dreams do come true.In December 2003, the ultimate irony happened. Rabbi went on a cultural binge to Pakistan, and played for the first time in public. In Karachi. They loved him and his Sufi music. Rabbi was a hit in Pakistan, extensively covered by the media. Yeah !On January 29, 2004 as Tarun launched the tehelka paper, Rabbi played for the first time at a public function in Delhi. It was a very special moment for us. And everyone was stirred by his music.After that Anand Surapur and his team at Phat Phish Records have been fighting the odds. Now, they are finally ready to release Rabbi. I believe his music will carry around the world. Please listen to it. We aim to get by...with a little help from our friends.
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