Rabbi Shergill

Rabbi Shergill arrived on the Indian pop scene as a much needed breath of fresh air in a music industry fuelled by gyrating item numbers and suggestive lyrics. With his sufi inspired music with a solid dose of rock, he has found his audiences in young and old alike. With fans like Amitabh Bachchan, A. R Rahman and V. S Naipaul the universal appeal of Rabbi’s music shows that this Delhi boy is here to stay.

Born and brought up in Delhi Rabbi was greatly influenced by Sikh literature and grew up reading Gyani Gyan Singh, Kabir's dohas and Shiv Kumar Batalvi. His passion for poetry of the great Sufi saints demonstrated in his brilliant rendition of “Bulla Ki Jaanna Main Kaun” by 18th century Sufi poet Baba Bulle Shah, incidentally this song topped the charts in 2005 and his debut album “Rabbi” instantly clicked with the young generation.

Rabbi stands apart from the crowd because of where he comes from. His father, who passed away, was a rice farmer and Gurbani kirtan singer in Chak Mishri Khan village near Amritsar. It is from him that Indian pop music’s latest sensation has inherited his smooth voice and spiritual core.

Rabbi’s mother, essentially a poet, was the principal old Delhi’s Mata Sundari College. He obviously draws his creative inspiration and sensibility from her. Rabbi grew up on a mix of Sikh spiritual literature, the wisdom of Gyani Gyan Singh and Kabir’s dohas, among other things.

In his college days Rabbi was an active participant in the local rock scene and derived his inspiration from bands like Led Zepplin, Aersomith, Pink Floyd and Nirvana. The songs from his album Rabbi encapsulate the creative genius of an artist who sees and feels the world through his music and nothing else. And such a vision can only come from the hardships that Rabbi had to go through for the launch of his maiden project.

While in college Rabbi was already writing and composing songs on his own and made a few demos. He almost struck his first deal when Sony Music expressed interest in signing him for an album and even tied him up with producer K J Singh.

The deal never materialized, but Rabbi came to the notice of Minty Tejpal (brother of Tehelka chief Tarun Tejpal). Rabbi almost came within the inches of cutting an album but, unfortunately for him, Tehelka went through financial crisis in those days and his album was left unfinished.

But Rabbi’s demo eventually reached Anand Surapur of Phat Phish records, who signed him for what became Rabbi’s first album and that too a hit.

Once his song ‘Bulla ki Jaana’ started getting airplay on radio and TV channels there was no stopping this dashing surd from Delhi. Rabbi has since performed at the World Social Forum in Brazil, and played at the inauguration of the Tri-Continental Film Festival in New Delhi. He made his debut in films as music director and lyricist with the Hindi movie, ‘Delhii Heights’.