MUMBAI: Musicians who generally wish to collaborate with folk artistes work together for a project or two and then disperse. But this is not the case with Bollywood’s famous musical duo Salim-Sulaiman Merchant. The musicians who met Rajasthani folk singer Sattar Khan six years ago, have today made him a part of their band and tours.

On the special occasion of Holi, the duo will be releasing a song titled Baalamji, themed on the festival of colours while portraying the story of how Sattar and the brothers got together.

“Baalam Ji is a true story of Sattar Khan whom I met during the Indian Idol auditions. I was so taken aback by his singing, he was just 15 years old during that time, but somehow, he couldn’t reach the finals. Six years later I met him accidently at a private ‘mehfil’. I heard his voice and recognised it is Sattar, who was now a man with moustache. I was so mesmerised by his voice at the ‘mehfil’ that Sulaiman and I decided to make him a part of our tour and perform together at concerts,” said Salim.

The song titled Baalamji has a deep meaning behind. The singer explained, “Baalamji has different meanings to it while in this song it means a blessing. The lyrics depict ‘I wish for the blessing to shower in abundance’.”

The song which will release today has half Rajasthani traditional lyrics and the other half penned by Shraddha Pandit. Composed by Salim and Sulaiman, the song is sung by Salim along with Sattar Khan.

Shot in Rajasthan, the recording was done in Mumbai. “Coming from a village background, singing in a recording studio was a first-time experience for Sattar so he was very nervous at the beginning. Then I sat and had some chat with him and tried supporting him, making him feel comfortable with the environment. Once as he recorded and heard his voice, he was very amazed and then got excited to record again and again for better output,” Salim added.

The song will be exclusively available on Apple Music. “I have always been an Apple follower and listener and I love the platform too. One can stream music from anywhere with the huge catalogue it has. I had a desire to release this song on Apple Music exclusively,” ended the singer.