When it comes to India’s colonial past, there have been many well-documented incidents of unprovoked brutality against her citizens. None more so than the incredibly tragic Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar on April 13, 1919. A dark day for the country – the barbarity of General Dyer and his forces shocked a nation into stunned silence, sadness and anger.
While historians have chronicled the inhumanity and its impact on India’s psyche, the massacre has never been mentioned in any song or prayer.
Wanting to give this story and theme a fresh take and keeping with the experimental fusion nature of their album, Salim-Sulaiman have collaborated with Shor Police and singer Harshdeep Kaur on this one. Composed by the creatively magical duo of Clinton Cerejo and Bianca Gomes, have added their unique style and vibe to the track to give it a Pop-Rock sound for the ages. The fact that they bring intense aggression into the melody reflects the mood of the track, what it stands for.
Shor Police first began composing this song in a dark and sombre yet intense zone. It was something that Salim-Sulaiman wanted to capitalise on and that’s what laid the foundation for “Jallianwala Bagh’s” eventual direction. In a way, the music and emotions of rage associated with the lyrics influenced how the song shaped up. Raw yet nuanced. Anguished yet sombre. Powerful with a strong sense of being wronged and never having received justice for those atrocities.
Says Salim, “Sometimes when you are writing music, creating lyrics, or making a melody; you get some creative messages from the divine. You can’t pinpoint where it came from. You don’t know the reason why it happened to you. And, you don’t question it. When Bianca sang the first rough version, I listened to the intense words like ‘alive’ and ‘survive’. It was then that I had the brainwave to ask Clinton and Bianca make the entire track around a historical event.” He further adds, “I can’t recollect why I thought of “Jallianwala Bagh” and this was well before the release of ‘Sardar Udham Singh’ or anything else related to this event. But, it came to me in the moment and it made so much sense to do something like this. Something incredibly powerful around something tragically unforgettable.”
The trio googled Jallianwala Bagh and the date was 13 April which happens to be Clinton’s birthday and it seemed as if this is a message from above to develop this idea into a song. They unanimously thought of Harshdeep to do justice to this song. IP singh whose a singer in a band called Faridkot co-wrote the Punjabi part. He’s a seasoned writer and a Punjabi so he understood the nuances and every Indian is affected by this traumatic massacre and the screaming of those innocent people haunts us and makes one wonder what the society went through after this episode.
Says the Shor Police duo: “Since Bhoomi is primarily a fusion project, as composers, we wanted it to reflect the pop vibe of Shor Police and be true to Harshdeep’s folk roots as well. We kept that uppermost on our minds when we were composing this song.The English lyrics were written by us and the Punjabi lyrics were so incredibly penned by IP Singh. His descriptive lyrics really bring to life how real the pain still is for us and how fresh those emotions are every time we’re reminded of the horrors of that fateful day. It still makes us sick to our stomach. That raw emotion was evident even while we were performing the song for the video. Harshdeep delivered those hard hitting lyrics with so much emotion , every word so honest and straight from the heart.”
Sulaiman heard the song when it was almost complete and he said: “Jallianwala Bagh is a beautiful blend of lyrics in English and Punjabi. The lyrics say why humanity was denied so defield by their pride. Why did we have to pay the price with our lives? If you think about just those lines it paints a picture of the tragedy itself.Bianca’s vocal approach to the song is this extremely hard-hitting pop sound, and Harshdeep brings the earthiness to the Punjabi chorus.”
Adds Harshdeep Kaur, “When I was informed that I was recording a song about “Jallianwala Bagh ” I got goosebumps and being aware of this historic tragedy, I couldn’t wait to give my voice to it. Also it was very important to ensure the emotion in the song of pain and outrage at the same time. So to bring that in my singing was a challenge.”
The Bhoomi movement is an amazing stage that encourages free thought and expression and represents our culture and tradition. Jallianwala Bagh is a perfect addition to the album as with culture tradition and folk we are also adding history to the movement of Bhoomi to get more love and respect. The song was conceptualised on Clinton’s birthday on April 13 and released on Harshdeep ‘s birthday on December 16.
