Punjabi rapper Sidhu Moosewala, an icon for many, the rebellious young man who became very popular, and was controversial for allegedly promoting gun culture and violence. He was rumoured to have ties with the criminal gangs. Last year, he met a violent end when he was ambushed and gunned down by six assailants at the age of 28.
He in his popular song Legend, he take on his adversaries directly, while declaring him a legend.
Unlimited is the enmity
Limited is the count of our breaths
I move opposite to the world
And parallel with death
In some hearts, I stay forever
And some others don’t understand me
Award winning journalist Jupinderjit Singh in his book tries to answer the million dollar question, WHO KILLED MOOSEWALA? published by WESTLAND.
Following are the excerpts of the book that will act as a measure of the man who lived a short but an eventful life and registered his name in the annals of history.
THE EXCERPTS:
Shubhdeep was proud of his education. In media interviews, he would talk about being one of the few in his village who had an engineering degree.
‘I have seen my parents work hard for me. They were worried that, like many youths in the state, I may get involved with drugs or other illegal activities in some way, but I was committed to making a name. So, I tried engineering and got good marks and a seat at GNE Ludhiana [Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College], among the best colleges in the country. Engineering was to make a living, but music was the food for my soul. That is why I tried my hand at music again when I was in Ludhiana.’
Shubhdeep’s passion for singing seems to have really developed when he was studying engineering. He started taking lessons from Harvinder Rattu, a music teacher who had a school near the industrial city of Ludhiana.
‘Sidhu first came to me sometime in 2014. I think he was in the third year of his engineering course,’ recalled Rattu. ‘He was what we call in local parlance a shreef jeha munda, a shy, polite and well-mannered boy. He rarely talked, just a word or two here and there.
Later, I would be surprised by the aggression in his songs and stage performances. That was someone else. The one who came to learn music was Shubhdeep Singh from a village in a backward region of Punjab. And it seemed he was not very confident in the urban competitive world. But people change, thinking changes and the company you keep also changes. The person I saw in those music videos was not Shubhdeep. He was Sidhu Moosewala.’
Shubhdeep had decided to write his own song, he needed a fitting subject. The conversation with his friends and his teacher led to the story of Shaheed Udham Singh of Sunam, a town not too far from Moosewala’s home district of Mansa. Udham Singh had killed General Michael O’Dwyer, a former Lt. Governor of Punjab during British rule, on 13 March 1940, in London, to avenge the Jallianwala Bagh massacre that took place on 13 April 1919.
Rattu recalled drawing Shubhdeep’s attention to the fact that Udham Singh had waited for more than twenty years to finally get his revenge. Moosewala’s eyes had lit up listening to the tale and he said, ‘It is amazing that he kept the spirit of revenge alive for so long, but I wonder how he got a licence in England to carry that gun.’ Rattu chuckled and said, ‘Who needs a licence when you know your mission will end in certain death for you?’
Rattu said, ‘With times, kalakars change. They play to the gallery. I felt Shubhdeep’s lyrics came from deep within. He later learnt about the market, and I think that changed him, or maybe it was the different kind of company he began to keep. At the same time, you have to notice that many singers die in penury while saving Punjabi boli and idiom in their art, whether in songs or stories. Why should Moosewala have met the same fate?’ It was true that people loved Moosewala’s brand of Punjabiyat—the masculine bravado, the guns, the fast cars and the gumption to fearlessly take on one’s enemies. It pushed Sidhu to play up that part of his personality.
In Punjabi, we have a word called “mandeer”, which means a footloose group of youth who don’t care much for the law. Mandeer in Punjab are like the “hoods” in Western countries. Moosewala had become a part of the mandeer. I heard some fight or dispute took place between him and his friends in Canada that made him come back,’ Rattu said.
Moosewala’s return from Canada to his small village was often discussed in media interviews. He and his parents spoke about his return to his roots.
‘I did not accept the Permanent Residency of Canada. I wanted to do something for the village I was born in. I wanted to tell the world that if one is on the right path, one can live and grow in one’s village. When I see the mad rush among the youth to migrate to Canada, the UK or other places, I want them to look at me and believe that anything is possible living in India, close to your parents, your responsibilities and your roots,’ said Moosewala.
Raghuraj, a Chandigarh-based architect who designed and constructed Moosewala’s haveli in the village of Moosa, remembers the singer’s insistence on Punjabi architecture. ‘He used to live with his parents in a two-room house. The approach road and the house started to feel cramped as his following grew. Then, he decided to construct a haveli on the outskirts of the village, but didn’t want it to be ‘modern.’
The singer had wanted to popularise Punjabi haveli architecture with its projections and jharokhas. ‘I stand for bringing youth back to their villages, back to farming and back to being proud of the Punjabi language. Then how can I build a modern home?’ he reasoned.
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At the Basant Mela in Hoshiarpur, Moosewala had captured the attention of the audience. He addressed them as brothers and sisters and mothers and elders, in his signature style. He even greeted a photojournalist, thanking him for a superb photo, and asked after the well-being of a fan who used to attend almost all his concerts. After establishing that personal connection, he started the performance with his popular song Legend.
As the song ended, Moosewala addressed the crowd. ‘People who are successful get so many enemies out of jealousy. But you [rivals or critics] can only bark like a dog later. The one who had to do something, achieve something, has done it. Now you can keep boasting you will do this or that but nothing is going to happen. You cannot do anything. The entire world knows who has stormed your world ... There is no need to tell them who has guts. They know it,’ he said, with his trademark thigh thump.
‘Our fight is not with Punjabi singers, but with foreigners. We are just one per cent of the world’s singers. I will take Punjabis to the top slot.’ That was it. The crowd cheered for him with gusto once again.
Calling himself a legend, Sidhu Moosewala bragged, ‘So many people search for my house that Google has put a pin on the map. Fans come to my house as if it is their own. I also meet them as my family members and not fans. I never say no to anyone. And Google also shows my old house. The other singers don’t tell fans where they live. They hide behind guards in cities. And I live openly for all of you,’ he finished to loud screams and cheers.
After his killing, Google Maps added a new pin on the village of Moosa—Sidhu Moosewala’s Memorial.
(Photo: Westland)
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