this indian life

By: thisindianlife

Jan 16 2009

Category: folk music, sikh, social theory

3 Comments

Rabbi Shergill’s music mixes western folk arrangements with Punjabi poetry, Sufi spirituality and social consciousness.  His music addresses communal violence, social responsibility, the environment and the need for “collective morality”.  He has earned the title of being Punjabi music’s true urban balladeer.   He told his story in an interview at the Indian Habitat Centre in Delhi.

Rabbi grew up in a Sikh family committed to religion and Punjabi poetry, but he turned his back on his heritage during his college days.  He embraced Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, joined a college rock band, and cut his Sikh hair short.

After college, Rabi returned to his Sikh roots.  He grew to value his community over the flattening imposition of western globalized pop culture.  He said that his return to his Sikh roots was less about religion than about community identity.  He recalled the Punjabi poetry that was prevalent in his childhood home and began to set it to music, mixing together Sufi spirituality with folksy tunes.

Rabbi revolted against the “system”. He dropped out of his MBA program and grew critical of the trappings of urban Indian culture, with its insatiable appetite for entertainment, consumption, wealth, and career while leaving pollution and communal violence in its wake.  He believes that all people living in India’s cities are in a state of mourning for the intact and natural world that has been lost.  All that keeps people going in India’s cities, says Rabbi, is the distraction of TV and radio entertainment.

Rabbi hopes that his music serves as a prick to an urban world that lost its bearings.

Click here to watch Rabbi’s music video