Blended with love

Two string legends joined forces to make soothing melodies for a bruised world

- REUBEN JOE JOSEPH

There’s something about that song that haunts you,” remarked a pensive Martin Luther King Jr, as he sat in his car after a school programme in Tennessee in 1957. He was referring to folk singer Pete Seeger’s rendition of ‘We Shall Overcome’ at the event. The song would later become the anthem of the American civil rights movement, before making its way east. In India, Girija Kumar Mathur translated it to Hindi in the 1970s and captured the hearts of Indians in the decades since. Few songs conjure up feelings of patriotism and hope quite like ‘Hum Honge Kamyaab’.

In late 2019, two sultans of strings—one from the east and the other from the west—collaborated to render a rock raga version of this song of hope. Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Eagles’ guitarist Joe Walsh and a team of musicians close to them recorded a three-track EP to fulfil their desire to “communicate through music”. Little did they know that a pandemic was brewing and the world would soon be running on nothing but hope. (Or, maybe the sagely septuagenarians were just prescient all along!)

Finally, after nearly 18 months, the fruit of their labour will see the light of day. Prayers will be released by Universal Music on June 4 on all streaming platforms.

“Prayers is a tribute to all doctors, nurses, frontline workers, and people who serve,” Khan told THE WEEK. “In India, music is therapy. The medical world has slowly realised that. Music can heal. So, it is our prayer through this album that the planet should heal faster and we should begin our lives once again.”