Moment of Truth

His latest track,Sachcha Hai,is the result of one such collaboration. Written and composed by Ranjan himself,the song on “secularism,global peace and an equal world” has been influenced by one of Bade Baba Allauddin Khan Sahib’s gat (raag instrumental composition) and has been dedicated to him. “I had it tough last year. It was one of those moments when one is cornered and helpless,when I penned this number,” says Ranjan,who then got in touch with friend and musician Stuart Masters based in England and started work on this international project. The track will officially release in September and its video has been directed by Sovi Entertainment in Chandigarh.

“Apart from Stuart,Dalbir and Jazim (singers) have joined me on the vocals and the arrangement has been done by Jiten (musician),” says Ranjan.

A soothing track,it took Ranjan more than six months to compose and he has even played the oud,rabab,guitar and sarod in it. But the “restless” musician has his hopes pinned to the upcoming world music project Agam,which will be released by a London-based record label company by the end of this year. A six-track record,this has been composed and conceived by him and Masters and will also feature Baba Allauddin Khan’s compositions. “There is a Punjabi pop song that released last month on YouTube. Titled Sleepless Punjab,it is sung by Dalbir,” adds Ranjan,who feels life as a professional musician is “challenging”. “One barely makes ends meet,especially when one has a classical sufi bent of mind and all that the market wants is beat and bass,” rues Ranjan. In order to strike a balance,he,along with his wife Pooja Sharma and Dalbir,is planning to launch a sufi group. “My wife is doing her PhD in sufi studies and she writes as well. We are composing songs as of now,” says Ranjan,who has also opened his own garage music studio from home. One can catch his work on YouTube.