When Punjabi folk singer Muhammad Sadiq recorded his song ‘Na de dil pardesi nu’ (Don’t give your heart to a stranger) aka Jogi in the turbulent ’80s of Punjab marked by significant insurgency, it was under a modest contract with HMV and sung with his singing partner Ranjit Kaur. Penned by popular Punjabi songwriter Babu Singh Mann and arranged by Charanjit Ahuja, the song quickly found a place in the village akhadas (live performances), at weddings and had trucks and tractors blaring it on their crackling cassette stereos – a litmus test for the popularity of any song. Algorithm-based music searches and Spotify chart toppers were yet to arrive.
The song was revived and given a new lease of life in the 2000s by music producer Panjabi MC, who took the raw appeal of the song and its high-pitched and bright Punjabi tumbi riff and turned it into a club favourite in the British Asian underground space. The desis bonded over its beats and brassy tune often during ‘daytimers’ – afternoon club events, as there were night curfews from parents and a very confined nightlife.
Two decades later, the song is back – 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 action thriller, Dhurandhar. Singh’s smouldering intensity and the numerous action sequences in the recently released first look have been paired with this age-old Punjabi ditty in a new avatar. The film will release in December.
Sadiq, 78, is chuffed that the song is back in the spotlight. “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 also a former Member of Parliament and had won the Indian general election on a Congress ticket from Faridkot in 2019.
The song, which Sadiq calls an example of “Punjabi civility and culture” uses figures like Heer, Sassi and Sohni – tragic heroines popular in Punjabi folk tales – besides traditional Punjabi folk styles. This was one of Sadiq’s most significant moments; he has sung it at almost every concert. “I was in England last year. They are still playing it in the clubs,” he says.
Earlier this year, Sadiq was the guest artiste in global popstar Dosanjh’s Ludhiana concert, which was a part of his sold-out Dil-Luminati tour, where he was introduced as “the real OG” of Punjabi music. The two also sung a couple of songs together, including Na de dil pardesi nu.
Dosanjh honoured Sadiq with a shawl and tumbi – Sadiq’s instrument – in a glass case, besides going on 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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Born in Kup Kalan, a sleepy little village in Punjab’s Malerkotla, Sadiq grew up in a Punjabi Muslim family from the Mirasi community, traditionally travelling musicians and keepers of the folklore in the subcontinent, who came from Rampur near Ludhiana. In the village noted for its literary tradition and writers like Surjit Rampuri, Gurcharan Rampuri, Joginder Singh and Surinder Rampuri, is where Sadiq’s father, a military man, became a raagi in the Manji Sahab gurdwara – a significant religious site for the Sikhs – in the nearby Alamgir. So the first strains that Sadiq heard and imbibed were 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 often perform at Bal Sabhas. He was 10 when he performed at an event where the PEPSU (Patiala and East Punjab States Union – a State that united eight princely states) Chief Minister Brish Bhan was the chief guest 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 a laugh.
He soon began learning 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 also the eldest of six children and needed to work. He was about 16-17 when he joined the neighbouring natak mandali and would do small roles in Ramlila and other Punjabi plays. He would often croon the singing portions.
In the ’80s, when duets were the trend, he began singing with many musicians. His recording of Laung Gawacha with Surinder Kaur remains famous, even though it has been sung and remixed by a number of artistes. Others include Kurti malmal di and Sun ke lalkaara among others. He finally began singing with Kaur and toured with her for years. Even though ’80s Punjab was riddled with violence and turbulence Sadiq and Kaur continued so that they could make a living. This is also 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 received any royalty for the song since HMV changed hands in 1986.
While Punjabi folk has found a new lease of life in Hindi cinema, questions of credit and royalty remain unanswered. Dhurandhar producers also did not credit Sadiq or any of the members involved with the song before it was pointed out by Charanjit Singh’s son on social media, where he tagged actor Ranveer Singh. There has been no payment, of course, since the songs were owned by labels earlier and artistes were not very well aware 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.
