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Ed Sheeran's Hindi birthday song takes over Silicon Valley
The English singer-songwriter was in Mumbai recently, and appeared on the popular Netflix show, The Great Indian Kapil Show.
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Ed Sheeran posted images from his appearance on the Netflix show on his social media. / Instagram/@teddysphotos
The ladies in Silicon Valley are amused. WhatsApp messages flashing English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran singing a happy birthday song in Hindi are flying in cyberspace, maybe abetted by Netflix which recently aired the show. Sheeran was a guest performer on the Great Indian Kapil Show.
The song “Lakhanpal ka birthday aayo” was seen as an amusing alternative to Bollywood birthday songs the ladies have heard and sung every birthday. “Happy birthday to Sunita” and “Baar baar din yeh aaye” have often followed every obligatory “happy birthday to you” on the blowing out of candles and slicing of the cake.
Sheeran was recently in Mumbai, where he made brief appearances with several celebrities of Bollywood.
Simplicity is key
“In a complicated world, Sheeran's musical modus operandi is straightforward; to create well-crafted, expertly vague songs that unite people,” said Michael Cragg in The Guardian on Sheeran's style of music and mass appeal.
Sheeran also performed his famous song Shape of You along with Bhangra beats. Sheeran walked on the Netflix show with a guitar and a troupe of Bhangra dancers. “Sheeran’s most impressive quality is his ability to play all of his songs completely by himself. He’s known for writing with a loop pedal, but it’s his insistence on touring solo that makes him so special. He has never once been on a major tour with a backing band. It’s borderline insane,” said The Medium.
He is a musical artist who can write and perform good songs by himself.
Dining with the stars and cooking the common man’s meal
While on the one hand, Ed Sheeran was seen dining with Shah Rukh Khan, the king of Bollywood, and other stars, on the other hand, the common man saw him making their favorite meal ‘misal pav’ on YouTube
Kalpesh, the gym instructor who zooms into the living rooms of many Silicon Valley ladies from Mumbai, has not watched the Kapil Sharma show on Netflix, but he has seen Ed Sheeran on YouTube cooking his favorite dish.
“Yeah I heard about his visit. He visited some schools. I know his song ‘Shape of You’,” said Kalpesh. “I did not see the Kapil Sharma show. I have seen Ed Sheeran on YouTube with the kitchen guy making misal.”
“‘Shape of You’ is the most streamed song in Spotify history. The Punjabi remix has the sounds of tabla and flute mixed in,” said Jyoti Pande, a resident of Cupertino and an avid admirer of the Kapil Sharma show.
Jyoti Pande saw the episode which featured Ed Sheeran. He did not have much to say except that Ed Sheeran has visited India in 2017 as well. He has done charity work in India too. Pande was happy to hear Indian instruments mixed in with the English songs.
The birthday song
In the Netflix show, comedian Sunil Grover dressed in the colors of a bird of paradise hopped around Sheeran with his own cobbled-together band, the Chak Chak Dhoom orchestra. Sheeran strummed notes singing “Barfi Khayo, cake khayo, khayo bread pakora”.
Sunil Grover did a victory lap across the stage and anointed Sheeran the orchestra’s lead singer. “Aayo Lakhanpal’s birthday aayo,” sang Sheeran.
Memorizing and singing the exact lyrics was not a stumbling block for Sheeran either. As he sang the birthday song, Sheeran rolled over words he didn’t understand and skimmed the words he could not catch the pronunciation of.
His dialogues in Hindi, read off a sheet of paper, were pretty impressive.
Sheeran’s aim to become a global musical sensation certainly took a giant leap forward on his visit to India. The Indian audiences loved him.
He struck up the famous Shahrukh Khan pose for them and embraced them all.
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