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Ed Sheeran and Indian singer Diljit Dosanjh during their performance on March 16, 2024 in Mumbai.
cnn
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British singer Ed Sheeran wowed the stage in Mumbai with Diljit Dosanjh over the weekend when the pair sang a rendition of the Indian artist’s hit “Lover” in Punjabi, a duet that quickly caught fire. india social media.
Both artists posted videos of their performances on Instagram, to huge applause from the crowd when Sheeran invited his singing partner on stage.
“I have to introduce @diljitdosanjh tonight in Mumbai and sing in Punjabi for the first time. I had an amazing time in India and there will be more to come! Sheeran wrote in a mail.
Singer and actor Dosanjh, 40, is one of the biggest South Asian artists worldwide and has played a major role in putting Punjabi music on the international map. He made history in 2023 as the first Punjabi artist to perform at Coachella.
Over the past 15 years, Sheeran has gone from self-releasing his EPs and playing small London bars to becoming one of modern pop’s best-selling songwriters. He is in the middle of his mammoth two-and-a-half-year “Mathematics” world tour.
More than 50,000 concertgoers crowded into Mahalaxmi Racecourse to see Dosanjh’s surprise appearance, as the Indian star warmed up the audience and Sheeran played an acoustic guitar, singing parts of the chorus.
“We had no idea Diljit was going to be here, it seemed like the moon had come down,” said one fan in a video summary published by the indian star.
“I’m still processing what just happened here, I’ll never forget this night,” said another concertgoer.
Spotify India commented on a video posted by Sheeran saying, “we see fire on that stage,” in reference to one of the British star’s hits.
Indian fans and celebrities on social media praised Dosanjh for getting Sheeran to sing in an Indian language.
Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan called it “global domination,” in a comment on Dosanjh’s Instagram video.
“I was standing in the audience screaming like a fan. “This was the multiverse event that no one expected,” commented comedian Sahil Bulla.
“Congratulations to Diljit,” another user wrote. “This man has literally blown up the Punjabi music scene making other artists (singing) in Punjabi expect collaboration from him.”
Dosanjh has collaborated with other English-speaking singers and last year released the bilingual song “Hass Hass” with Sia, the Australian-born artist behind “Chandelier” and “Elastic Heart.”
And fans are hoping for more international crossovers with the Indian artist, with one person commenting: “first Sia, now Ed, Diljit will make everyone sing in Punjabi.”
India has 23 official languages, including English, and is home to hundreds of other mother tongues.
Punjabi is native to the Punjab region of India, as well as neighboring Pakistan. Worldwide, there are over 100 million Punjabi speakers in the South Asian subcontinent and diaspora communities.
During the concert, Sheeran also thanked fans for braving hours of traffic to get to the event.
The roads leading to the sprawling 225-acre venue (equivalent to about 170 American football fields) were jammed with cars about five hours before the concert began at 7:15 p.m. Saturday, according to CNN staff who attended.
Traffic was so bad that some fans abandoned their cars and walked the final 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) stretch to the entrances.
“I know India is a big place, but everyone who is here at the concert is not necessarily from Mumbai. People have come a long way to be here today. People got on trains, planes, drove and had children. “I know you go through a lot on Saturday night with me,” Sheeran said.
“This is just the beginning,” he added, promising that he would return to India.