In Lounge-Mint, Rabbi Shergill talks about the wellspring of his music and the importance of language:
While the riffs of rock music inform his musical thought-he idolizes Bruce Springsteen – Rabbi Shergill’s music is essentially Punjabi. The rhythms and cadences of the Punjabi language, and folk and Sufi musical forms are reflected in his original compositions. He feels strongly about language as a vehicle for thought-the bastardization of the Punjabi language and its homogenization, brought about by mass culture, upsets him. “Homogenizing language is tantamount to homogenizing thought,” says the 33-year-old, adding that using his own language-a dialect of Punjabi spoken in the Majha region, that he was exposed to as a child-is for him a form of protest against the homogenization of the beautiful, rich and diverse Punjabi language. Language, then, is a focal point in understanding and appreciating Shergill’s music.
