Rabbi Shergill to launch new album

To call Rabbi Shergill a Sufi singer would be a misnomer of sorts. Sure, his biggest hit Bulla Ki Jaana was based on the poetry of the 18th century Sufi mystic Baba Bulleh Shah. In the tradition of labelling musicians and their sound, let’s refer to Rabbi as the quintessential urban balladeer, and one who chooses to sing in the vernacular, reinterpreting folk sounds in an acoustic rock format.
Now, after almost four years since his last album, he has released his third album, which has been matter-of-factly titled III.
On why he’s taken so long to grace the shelves with an album, Rabbi explains that while he’s been occupied with touring and experimenting new material, the delay in the release of his third album had nothing to do with lack of inspiration. “In fact, the album was ready almost two years ago. But then, I was waiting for a lot of things to come together, like the right time and the right label to come along. The search took a long time, therefore the delay.”
III is indeed an interesting jumble of concepts, but all aiming at the ideals of freedom and artistic expression. For example, the song Cabaret Weimar, a Punjabi number with hip-hop influences, draws parallels with the cultural explosion that took place in the Weimar Republic of Germany in the 1920s.
“The Weimar Republic existed right before the rise of the Nazis in Germany. There was a sort of cultural explosion, both in terms of creation and expression. This was also the period when the best thinkers, Nobel laureates and artists began to commune. It was all hunky dory until Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party took over in 1933 and all that original thought was wiped out. I’m trying to draw parallels in contemporary India with my song. We are a race of people engaged in the constant search for novelty. Thinking and reasoning have died down,” Rabbi adds thoughtfully.
At the same time, he is in search of a new face to star in the video for Ganga, another track from the album. Rabbi says, “Well, we’re sifting through data to look for the quintessential Indian of the future; someone who would take the baton forward. The woman in the video is someone seeking to reclaim her life and burst upon the world, and not dependant. She is one who is engaged in a grand dance of the cosmos. And that’s the kind of woman I’m looking for.”
A self-confessed fan of Jimmy Page, the shy musical genius behind Led Zeppelin, nothing else could be a tribute more obvious than the title of the album, which was also the name of Zeppelin’s third album. “Honestly, it was not a conscious tribute to Led Zeppelin. This is my third album and but I don’t really mind if my audience considers this so either,” says Rabbi.
And while he has been on a string of live performances to promote III, Rabbi will not be making a stop at Chennai, a city of which, he says, he loves the vibe. “I visit Chennai quite often, but it’s been long since I performed in the city. I’m not sure how Chennaiites would take to a Punjabi man with a guitar and his esoteric music,” the singer jokes as he signs off.
Flashback
Rabbi formed a band called Kaffir after college. They played a few competitions and festivals before the band members decided to go their separate ways. Rabbi composed jingles for a while when he was struggling to get his debut album out. Finally, he was signed on by an independent label to produce the album. His first single Bulla Ki Jaana met with instant success and became the most played non-film song on radio and television in 2005.