Mumbai, Oct 6 (IANS) The Grammy-nominated Indian-American artiste Raja Kumari’s new song ‘Gyaara’ features the last voice-note by the slain Punjabi artiste Sidhu Moose Wala.
The song is a part of her upcoming album ‘Zindabad: The Dekade’, and marks Raja’s first song in Punjabi and carries an especially emotional significance. In the voice note, the late singer can be heard responding to Raja’s song with genuine encouragement, telling her that he likes the song and believes it will be a “blast”, before reassuring her, “Don’t worry about it, we’ll do it”. Years later, Raja chose to preserve that moment in ‘Gyaara’.
Talking about the song, Raja Kumari told IANS, “Sidhu’s passing was a much bigger moment in my life than people may have understood from the outside. He came into my life at a time when I really needed someone to remind me of my own value, and the respect he showed me stayed with me. After he passed, I started questioning a lot of things, the people I allowed around me, the structures I was part of, the kind of artist I wanted to become and the kind of life I wanted to build. ‘Gyaara’ comes from that space”.
The song is co-written with Gagan Kooner, and explores the lesser seen side of ambition, including the hard work, solitude, sacrifice and faith that come with pursuing a life in music.
He further mentioned, “It’s about grief, but it’s also about what you do with that grief and how you keep moving forward. His voice in the song is a reminder of a conversation that ended, but whose impact never really did”.
‘Zindabad: The Dekade’ is Raja Kumari’s 6th album, and marks ten years of her journey as an artiste. The album was recorded during an intensive 30 day period, and features 12 songs alongside a 12 act visual album, live performance and documentary storytelling. The project moves across English, Hindi, Punjabi, Telugu, Tamil and Spanish, reflecting the cultures and influences that have shaped her journey.
“There’s something very emotional about performing ‘US’ and then ‘Gyaara’ on this tour. ‘US’ is something Sidhu and I actually created together, while ‘Gyaara’ represents everything that continued inside me after his voice note, the things I learned from knowing him, the decisions I made after losing him and the dream of eventually making music in Punjabi. I didn’t want to go on this stage and perform a whole Raja Kumari set. It felt important to me that this moment remains about Sidhu. I’m taking these two songs to the people who loved him, and I hope the music allows them to feel connected to him in the way that I still do”, she added.
