Sidhu Moosewala’s family raises objection to Salim Merchant releasing song of the late singer

Tribune News Service

Sukhmeet Bhasin 

Bathinda, August 26

Late Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala’s family has objected to the release of a song sung by him with singer Afsana Khan and recorded with composer Salim Merchant. The release of this song on September 2 was announced by Bollywood composer Salim Merchant on Thursday.

Sidhu Moosewala’s father Balkaur Singh Sidhu and uncle Chamkaur Singh Sidhu said that no permission has been taken from them regarding the release of the song. He said that if necessary, they can take legal recourse in this regard.

An open letter has been posted for Salim Merchant on social media by Moosewala’s family.

The letter states:

“Salim Sir, All of us highly respect you.  But this release hasn’t been authorized by the @ sidhumoosewala’s family yet. We have requested you multiple times even when you wanted to release the song just 3-4 days after Shubh veer left us and at that time as well during those circumstances Shubh veer’s father saab had sent you a voice note to hold on for any release so that family can first take some time and then discuss and understand the entire details of project with you and accordingly the future plan can be decided. I would really request you with folded hands that while we are anyways disappointed with various people putting out unreleased and leaked songs, we are hoping to get the support from such a well known artist and professional like you and to not put out any song yet without family’s confirmation and approval. Sidhu’s parents would be very pleased to meet you soon and discuss this project in person, just that for now a lot of other things have been their priority, including seeking justice for him than to start discussing 3rd party projects. I hope you will understand this and support us at such times. Furthermore commercialising his vocals as well as his name in the form of NFT in addition to offering unlicensed merchandise of Sidhu Moose Wala and unlawful use of his e – signature without any prior permissions by tying up with such entities is entirely illegal and infringes the rights at multiple levels and we would advise immediate pull down of all such material.”

Salim Merchant had on Thursday taken to Instagram and posted a video where he can be heard saying he is often questioned as to when the song he composed with Sidhu Moosewala will be released. He goes on to say that the time has come. He also reveals that they had recorded the song in Chandigarh in July last year.

He says Afsana Khan had recommended Sidhu for the song. Merchant shares that he was impressed by Sidhu’s passion for his art, songs, people and community, and in no time, they decided to record the song.