As raga meets rap

Sheetal

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Music has the power to transcend boundaries. But for it to reach to a much wider audience, first the artistes need to be accepted by the masses. As the latest song of Tesher, Indo-Canadian singer, rapper and songwriter, becomes world famous with American singer Jason Derulo joining in for the chorus and music, we take a look at foreign collaborations by Indian artistes.

The ‘Jalebi’ history

The song that it was, to the song it has become, this Jalebi Baby has a history as well as fan following. Indo-Candian singer Tesher, after his debut single Young Shahrukh, independently released a remix Yummy Jalebi mixing lyrics and music of Justin Beiber’s, Yummy Yummy and Jalebi Bai from the movie Double Dhamaal. The song became a viral sensation. The official music video for the remix, directed by Gil Green, was released on July 13, 2021 and has Derulo doing Bhangra for his Indian fans. The song crossed 24 million views within a week.

Story of chance

There’s planned collaboration and then there’s chance collaboration. Singer Pardeep Sran, whose voice is behind the biggest Hollywood collaboration Biba Nachdi of DJ Marshmello and Pritam, says, “I had sung this for the film Raabta starring Sushant Singh Rajput but it was fated to become a Hollywood number. Had it been released in Raabta it would have had a completely different outcome.” However, Pardeep feels doing a collaboration for the sake of it is not advisable. He adds, “There are songs by artistes, which would have been better off as solos. Collaborations did not make them any better. So, I would ideally collaborate only when there is value addition to my song rather than doing it for the sake of friendship.”

International DJ’s and India

Major Lazer, American-Jamaican electronic dance music DJ, and DJ Snake are few names who have been collaborating with Indian artistes. And if they don’t collaborate, they definitely try to put Indian elements in their music to lure Indian audiences. For instance, Hymn for the Weekend by British Rock Band Coldplay, which featured actress Sonam Kapoor, has 1.4 billion views and Lean On by Major Lazer and DJ Snake has 3 billion views. Recently, Major Lazer did a collaboration with Indian electronic music producer Nucleya called Jadi Buti, featuring Rashmeet Kaur, which could not repeat the same magic though.

Benefactor’s alert

Yet, if done well, collaborations have done wonders for artistes. Priyanka Chopra’s first step towards the international market was through her songs, In MY City and Exotic which featured international artistes, Will.I.Am and Pitbull, respectively. Tony Kakkar made it big in India because he chose right co-singers. The artiste gave his first collaborative success Coca Cola with Pakistani singer-rapper Young Desi. It not only made his music career take a flight but also got his song featured in a film, Luka Chuppi.

Expert opinion

Music composer and singer Atul Sharma gives his take on the sudden surge in collaborations during the pandemic. He says, “The language of music now has become one and it sounds universal. And to reach this stage, we had to lose some to gain some. For instance, our individuality lies in our ethnicity. The songs we are doing have just the language difference but the beats have become more or less the same. The global collaborations, especially post- pandemic, are borne out of the desperation to earn followers and livelihood.”

The bordering line

Atul Sharma feels collaborations should start closer home, hinting at Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, for we share a common history and also understand the languages and references. The singer commends the efforts of underground artistes such as Sidhu Moosewala for they are not afraid of flaunting their culture. Sidhu had release an album called Moosetape that has artistes like Tion Wayne, Stefflon Don, Morrisson, Raja Kumari and Blockboi Twitch. Similarly, Divine has never forsaken his language and style to be a part of foreign collaboration. His song Dutchavelli – Bando Diarie, featuring OneFour, Kekra and Noizy, stands for the same.

So, how to achieve the greater purpose in collaboration? Music producer of the band The Collective Project and an audio engineer Sameer Sandhu says, “Firstly, it depends on the thought process behind the collab. What is the artiste’s vision? Is it for views? Or, is it to widen their reach? Or, is it just to experiment?”