With a makeover, old hill song from Uttarakhand becomes online sensation

Presented in a new avatar, a famous hill song from Uttarakhand has become an overnight online sensation, amassing over 9.91 lakh views within a day of it being posted online.

The melodious Jaunsari song ‘O Saathi O Saathi’ has been sung by Bollywood singer Jubin Nautiyal, with the rap part performed by popular rapper Badshah.

The video song was posted by MTV India channel on social media platforms on March 24 and had already gained over 9.91 lakh views on social networking site Facebook by Saturday (March 25) noon. By the time of filing this report, the video had already got more than 38,000 likes and over 11,000 shares.

Originally sung by Jaunsari singer Khajan Dutt Sharma, the soulful track is a “lover’s cry who is missing his loved one”. The song is in Jaunsari language (technically a dialect) from Jaunsar, a hilly region in Uttarakhand that traces its origin from the Pandavas of the Mahabharata.

And social media was quick to heap praises on the experiment for highlighting the music of the mountains. “A beautiful moment for Uttarakhand. Finally, our artists in national platform are giving voice to something related to their identity,” posted one Nikhil ‘Uttarakhandi’. “Wow...finally it happened…want to hear more in our language,” wrote another user Atul Bhatt. Many were surprised to see rapper Badshah in a ‘soulful number.

Singer Jubin, who himself hails from the Jaunsar region, said that he’d always wanted to bring the spotlight on music of Uttarakhand hills.

“I’d been looking for an opportunity to take the songs from our mountains to the national platform. So, when I got this chance (to collaborate with Badshah), I immediately told the team that this (pahadi song) is what I want to do,” Jubin told HT over the phone from Mumbai.

“I’m happy that people from all over the country are not only loving the song but are also curious to know its meaning…I’m sure our pahadi music and culture will go places with more such experiments,” said Jubin, who had earlier collaborated with Badshah for The Humma Song, the rejig version of the 1990s classic hit.

As a playback singer in Bollywood, Jubin has delivered several hits such as Zindagi Kuch Toh Bata, Meherbani and Tere Liye among others,

The video song was also aired on MTV Unplugged, a TV series that showcases popular musical artists, on Saturday night.