THE legendary wedding song, Madhaaniya, was recently given a brand-new spin by Sonia Panesar. The talented British Asian singer teamed up with Saregama Punjabi to deliver her own version of the emotional track that captures the journey of a departing bride as she begins a new life. It adds to the marvellous, family-friendly music delivered by an artist who is deeply connected to her cultural roots.
Eastern Eye caught up with Panesar to speak about Madhaaniya, why it means so much to her, her inspiration and the artists she admires.
What first draws you towards a song, before recording it?
(Laughs) What a great question. I’m not sure if there is one answer. A song must have a good melody, emotional lyrics and great musical elements that help me really feel it before I record it.
Tell us about your new song.
Madhaaniya is a timeless, evergreen Punjabi folk wedding song that I have recreated. Nothing beats the original versions sung by Surinder Kaur and Musarrat Nazir. However, I feel honoured to have the chance to present the song via Saregama Punjabi, but in the 'Sonia Panesar' way.
What do you most love about this track?
The lyrics are just so elegant and have so much depth. The way the scene is set of a bride leaving her home, with references to what she is wearing. The verses that follow reflect her family and how they feel. There are emotions felt by the bride and her family. It’s emotional, but so well captured. It portrays the ultimate journey of a woman from where she was raised to where she will end up, with a new family name and all the changes she will endure.
You have a strong connect to this song…
Personally, I relate to this track as my dad was not alive when I got married, so he didn't have the chance to give me away. Now that I’m single, independent, and starting life over again, it’s a song I connect to more deeply, as I feel that women endure so much in life. Women really cannot know where they will end up, but always remember where they came from. Leaving home that first time is a pivotal point in a woman’s life.
Cover art for Sonia Panesar's rendition of Madhaaniya
How does this compare to other tracks you have sung?
I perform this one all the time as part of Team Sur Sangeet performances for brides, but it really was a challenge to capture the emotions for this one in the studio. I’m really pleased with it being an acoustic track, focused on the simplicity of only guitar and vocals, but also with my own touch in the composition and lyrics in between the verses and harmonies used in the outro. Other tracks have more production with beats, etc., but this is more authentic to how I perform.
Who are you hoping most connects with this song?
Parents and daughters across all generations, but essentially all women. Also, all music and Punjabi folk music lovers.
What, according to you, makes for a great wedding song?
A wedding song must have the emotions, be it bittersweet feelings or joy. It should definitely have the feel; otherwise, it just wouldn't make sense.
What can we expect next from you?
I have more covers releasing via Saregama Punjabi on the way and am working on some original songs — some written and composed by me and collaborations with different producers too. All will be revealed in time.
What inspires you as a singer?
The gift of music itself — I have been blessed with a voice; therefore, I must embrace it and share it with the world.
Who is your musical hero?
I don’t have one specific hero, as I’ve listened to many artists and music genres since a young age. But more recently, I admire Jasmine Sandlas for her guts, strength, and resilience, and Diljit Dosanjh for not being afraid to show his versatility through his songs.
What about your earlier influences?
Earlier, Najma Akhtar inspired me with her harmonies on Zikar Hai Apna. Also, not forgetting the late Sangeeta, who was inspirational while growing up — I had the chance to be a backing vocalist on her tracks and was always inspired by every song she sang. Knowing she was from the UK gave me hope that I could be like her too.
Why should we all listen to your new track?
It’s a track I’m very much proud of and feel honoured to share with the world as a UK artist. It’s a chance to listen to an evergreen Punjabi wedding song in a contemporary way. It’s also a chance for my dedicated followers to hear something from me that means so much to me. Thank you for supporting and listening.
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A seated Jain enlightened teacherAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Ganesha from JavaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Chinese silk painting depicting the BuddhaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
ArdhanarishvaraAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Head of a grimacing yakshaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
NagaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Bimaran casketAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Hunia Chawla
A still from rehearsal
Them performing liveNajmuddin Saifuddin Qawwal Group
The cast of Marriage Material in key moments from the play, including Avita Jay, Kiran Landa, Omar Malik, Irfan Shamji and Anoushka Deshmukh
Sathnam Sanghera’s 'Marriage Material' adapted into bold new play on conformity
The play Marriage Material at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre is Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s adaptation of Sathnam Sanghera’s novel of the same name, which first came out in 2013.
She is lucky to have Iqbal Khan direct Marriage Material. The play, a co-production with the Birmingham Rep, is set in the late 1960s. Mr and Mrs Bains (played by Jaz Singh Deol and Avita Jay) run a corner shop in Wolverhampton. Their younger daughter, Surinder (Anoushka Deshmukh), is 16, her sister Kamaljit (Kiran Landa) is just a bit older.
They have a neighbour, Patwant Dhanda (Irfan Shamji), who, as we shall soon see, is not a very pleasant man. In fact, he comes across just as racist as Enoch Powell, who represented Wolverhampton South West for the Tories from 1950 to 1974.
It will be recalled this was a time when Sikhs working on the buses were told they couldn’t wear a turban. That was a hard-fought battle that had to be won.
The Bains, meanwhile, simply want to get their girls married off.
Nothing new here, I thought.
What makes the tale different is that the plot twists and turns down the generations. Mr Dhanda, who has the makings of a paedophile, makes a pitch for one of the girls when Mr Bains dies early in the play. “A life with no man in the house is no life,” he informs the newly widowed Mrs Bains.
Mr Dhanda has a wife but she has returned to India so he considers himself to be a free man.
Surinder’s English teacher from school, Miss Flanagan (Celeste Dodwell), who is also head of the fifth form, tells Mrs Bains about her daughter: “I don’t want to embarrass you, but she is bright. Ridiculously bright.”
She adds: “Mrs Bains, I think it would be a pity if Surinder didn’t stay on at school.” The initial response from Mrs Bains is not encouraging: “Too much education makes people’s brains get mixed up, they don’t sleep at night…”
But she is finally persuaded that Surinder should be allowed to stay on for a while longer before being married off.
Mr Bains was very old school. When Surinder confides she would one day like to be “a somebody”, he is amused that “my daughter wants to be a somebody”.
“Like you,” she tells her father.
Mr Bains consoles his daughter: “We will find a somebody for you to marry.”
At the point of a possible marriage, however, Surinder is sweet-talked by chocolate salesman Jim Wilson (Tommy Belshaw) into running away with him. They share a love of literature, and he calls her “Sue Bains”. But the relationship does not end well.
Once she has left, Surinder is written off as “dead” by her family. The story that is circulated is that she was only 16 when she was killed in a car crash. That’s better than to let on that she ran off with a white man.
By the time she is reconciled with her sister towards the end of the play, a great deal has changed. Kamaljit married Tanvir Banga (Omar Malik), a young man who helped out in the Bains’ corner shop. When the two sisters meet again, Tanvir has also died. But he and Kamaljit had a son, Arjan Banga (Jaz Singh Deol doubles up for this role after the death of Mr Bains). He has come home after his father’s death to help his mother who is still running the family corner shop.
Meanwhile, Mr Dhanda’s business has prospered. He now has a son, Ranjit Dhanda (the role is taken by Omar Malik after Tanvir’s death), and he is nearly as unpleasant as his father.
Arjan has an English fiancée, Claire (Celeste Dodwell). In London, Arjan worked as a creative director. But after deciding to stay in Wolverhampton to help his mother, he decides he cannot marry Claire because she is white. In other words, Asians are not free of racism, either. Happily, at the end, the couple are reconciled.
As for Surinder, she parted company with Jim Wilson after realising he was all talk, depended on her for money and had failed to earn a penny from his literary pretensions. She had prospered, though, as a hotel owner and had been transformed in time into a well-groomed businesswoman. After being tracked down by Arjan, she decides to return to her roots in Wolverhampton and help Kamaljit run the family corner shop. Perhaps 50 years had passed during the passage of the play.
Being subjected to racism turned some Asians into racists themselves. The word goreh (white person) is repeatedly spat out with venom. Maybe it is worth remembering the play’s audience isn’t exclusively Asian – white folk are watching as well. And maybe some of the toilet humour ridiculing white people, which always makes me cringe, could be cut out.
In Sanghera’s novel, there is a quote from Enoch Powell’s speech in November 1968: “The West Indian or Asian does not, by being born in England, become an Englishman. In law he becomes a United Kingdom citizen by birth; in fact, he is a west Indian or an Asian still... he will by the very nature of things have lost one country without gaining another, lost one nationality without acquiring a new one. Time is running out against us and them. With the lapse of a generation or so we shall at last have succeeded – to the benefit of nobody – in reproducing ‘in England’s green and pleasant land’ the haunting tragedy of the US.”
In Marriage Material, where the acting is marvellous (apart from Mr Dhanda’s Indian mannerisms and accent being overdone) we do travel across a couple of generations.
There is a scene when Tanvir rejects Mr Dhanda’s vision of creating a little Punjab in Wolverhampton.
Mr Dhanda wants to take over the Bains’ corner shop and is putting pressure on Tanvir to sign the papers. He says: “In this country, money is the path to freedom.”
“Sign, please,” he instructs Tanvir. “We must make sure our children learn to behave nicely, according to our rules.”
He insists: “We maintain our identity so we can be ourselves.”
Tanvir disagrees: “We can be us here. With the goreh.”
Dhanda warns him: “Then we will be inviting chaos.”
Tanvir’s comment is telling: “You sound like Enoch.”
Kamaljit, who is expecting a baby with her husband Tanvir, says: “I would like my child to grow up knowing the history of the Gurus and to read the Granth Sahib. And to love their culture.”
Tanvir tells his wife: “I would like my child to go to the finest schools, to cheer for England in the World Cup and eat Yorkshire pudding on a Sunday.”
Kamaljit sets out a dream that has perhaps come to pass with many third and fourth generation British Asians: “Maybe our child can do both.” Much, much later, in a throwback to the past, we learn of Surinder’s O-level results: “Biology A, Chemistry A, English Language A, English Literature A, French A, History B, Latin A, Mathematics A, Physics A…”
Kamaljit tells her younger sister: “Never mind about the B.”
And that is quintessentially Asian. Their acting is outstanding.
Marriage Material is at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre until June 21, and at the Birmingham Rep from June 25-July 5