- Rabbi Shergill
Infobox musical artist
Name = Rabbi Shergill.
Img_capt = Rabbi Performing
Img_size =
Background = solo_singer
Born = 1975
Died =
Origin = flagicon|IndiaDelhi ,India
Genre = Rock,Sufi ,IndiPop
Occupation = Singer-Songwriter, Guitarist
Years_active = 1988 – present
Label =Phat Phish Records ,Yash Raj Music
Associated_acts =
URL =
Current_members =
Past_members =Rabbi Shergill (born Gurpreet Singh Gill, 1975) is an
India nmusician famous for his debut album "Rabbi" and the chart-topper song of 2005, "Bulla Ki Jaana ". His music has been described variously as rock, [http://specials.rediff.com/movies/2005/jan/11sld1.htm Meet Rabbi Shergill, Indipop's latest star!] by Sumit Bhattacharya, "Rediff.com Specials"]Sufi ana, and "semi-Sufi semi-folksy kind of music with a lot of Western arrangements." [http://www.telegraphindia.com/1041121/asp/look/story_4014887.asp Rhythm Divine] by Swagata Sen, "The Telegraph",November 21 ,2004 .] Rabbi himself has been called "Punjabi music 's true urban balladeer".Life and family
Rabbi's father was a
Sikh preacher and his mother is a college principal and also a Punjabi poet. Rabbi is the only male among five siblings. He is an alumnus of Guru Harkrishan Public School, India Gate andUniversity of Delhi 's renownedSri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College . After college, he went for further studies at the Fore School of Management but dropped out a year later.Musical career
Early days
After leaving college, he did ad
jingle s for a while, some of them were for Novaghee ,Yamaha RX-T motorbikes, andTimes FM .Rabbi struggled for many years to get his debut album published. Initially he worked withSony Music , but Sony backed out. He then approached Minty Tejpal, brother ofTehelka 's editor-in-chiefTarun Tejpal , who liked his music and offered him a contract. After Tehelka's first sting operation, the company ran into financial problems and eventually cancelled the contract. Magnasound also offered him a contract, but the company became bankrupt before the album could materialize. He was finally signed on by Phat Phish Records, who brought out his debut album.Rabbi: The Album
His self-titled first album "Rabbi" was released in 2004 and was highly successful with its title track Bulla ki jaana main kaun becoming an instant hit. The other songs in the album are an eclectic mix, including songs of joy ("Ajj Nachna"), love ("Tere Bin") and even on contemporary issues ("Jugni"). Rabbi writes in Punjabi, for "It is my pride", he says.
Most of the songs in the album were composed and written by Rabbi himself except for "Bulla ki Jana" based on the poetry of 18th century Sufi mystic
Baba Bulleh Shah , "Heer" from Heer byWaris Shah and "Ishtihar" byShiv Kumar Batalvi .Later career
Rabbi has since worked as a music director and lyricist for the Hindi movie,
Delhii Heights . He has also performed at theWorld Social Forum inBrazil , played at the inauguration of the Tri-Continental Film Festival inNew Delhi and various other Live Shows.On
2008 April 9 ,Nokia India announced that Rabbi's new album,Avengi Ja Nahin , will be available exclusively on itsNseries range of multimedia devices for a period of one month prior to its audio cd release. [ [http://www.nokia.co.in/A4537030?newsid=-12214 Nokia premieres Rabbi Shergill's new music album exclusively on Nseries devices] ] The album contains nine songs and deals with "issues like communal violence, social responsibility and the need for “collective morality”." [ [http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Avengi-Ja-Nahi-Shergills-new-album-against-communal-violence-released/294946/ Avengi Ja Nahi, Shergill’s new album against communal violence released] ]Musical Influence
Rabbi's music has been inspired by Rock,
Hard rock as well as Sufi and Punjabi folk music. His favourite musicians includeBruce Springsteen ,Sahotas ,Led Zeppelin ,Aerosmith , andJimmy Page .His songs are deeply philosophical and blends archaic, almost lost, Punjabi phrases into far more recent Indian rock music with great ease.
Trivia
His fans include
Amitabh Bachchan and SirV. S. Naipaul , who famously commented, "I didn’t understand it (his music); but it was very, very soulful, very deep."Mira Nair compared him toNusrat Fateh Ali Khan .The name Rabbi means God-facing and originates from the Punjabi word Rabb(God). Which originally came from Arabic word "Rub" which means God.
References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.