Fascination for guns backfires on singer
PATIALA: Until some weeks ago, he was a blue-eyed boy of Punjab Police, with the state top cop even retweeting his song. But now Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala, 26, who has been grabbing eyeballs ever since he shot into limelight, finds himself on the wrong side of the law.
Hailing from Moosa, a remote village in Mansa, Moose Wala has emerged as king of controversies, especially for promoting violence and gun culture in his songs. In February, Moose Wala and singer Mankirat Aulakh were booked for allegedly promoting gun culture and violence via their song ‘Panj golian’ (five bullets).
Shubdeep Singh Sidhu, aka Moosewala, completed his electrical engineering from Punjab and moved to Canada on study visa in 2016. A year later, he released his first track ‘So High’ that was followed by two back-toback albums.
The man clearly has fascination for guns --- be it his songs or his official YouTube channel logo that depicts ‘a man dressed in black with a covered face and carrying an AK-47 assault rifle.
Laced with Canada’s style and culture, most of his songs have thumping beats and deep bass. He tries to give a rural touch to the songs with his lyrics.
Moose Wala’s die-hard fans say he has never promoted drugs, alcohol and vulgarity in his videos, unlike many of his contemporaries. Apart from his gun-promoting numbers, Moosewala has been locked in war of words on social media with other fellow singers, including Karan Aujla.
The singer’s brush with controversies continued in 2019 when he angered the Sikh community while making a reference to Bhai Bhago, an18th century Sikh warrior, in the song “Jatti Jeoney Morh Di Bandook”. In March 2020, Moose Wala tendered an apology before the Akal Takht.
Moose Wala found favour with Punjab Police after his song on preacher Baldev Singh of Pathlawa village in SBS Nagar. Baldev was the first coronavirus victim in Punjab. The song was shared by DGP Dinkar Gupta on his official Twitter account. Later, both DGP and Moosewala faced backlash from netizens for defaming Baldev Singh following which Gupta removed the song link.
Moose Wala also backed Punjab Police’s #MainBhiHarjeetSingh campaign.
Last month, Mansa SSP Narinder Bhargav took Moose Wala along with him to give a birthday surprise for a corona warrior. A video of some cops teaching the controversial singer how to fire a gun using their service weapons went viral following which a case was registered.