Singer Adnan Sami suffered the biggest setback of his life when he lost his father, Arshad Sami Khan, to pancreatic cancer in 2009. And that was the reason behind his sabbatical from music. “My father was the dearest and closest person ever. His loss was the biggest blow of my life. My break was not planned to be this long, but I needed time to come to terms with it,” he tells us.

The 43-year-old has dedicated a song to his father in his latest album, Press Play. “I needed to express my sorrow through the most sacred medium that I know. The song, Baba, is dedicated to him and all fathers. There are so many songs about mothers, but hardly any on fathers. There is a very important role of a father in your life, which must be acknowledged,” he says.

Sami, who was recently in the Capital to promote his comeback album, is thrilled with the positive response it has got. “This is the answer to people who think that independent music can’t survive today. People have been very generous in the way they have received the album and I’m overwhelmed.”

“All my albums are biographical, including this one. With every song, you can say that he went through that thing he has written about, whether it was humourous or serious. If I say ‘Lift Kara De’, I was going through trouble at that time. I convey things through music. Every song tells you a story about my life. But
everyone can relate to it with their own individual experience,” says the Canadian citizen of Pakistani-Indian origin.

What’s more on his plate? “I’m back to playback singing and composing. I have sung for the film Shootout at Wadala. And then, I’m also doing a lead role in a Bollywood film, which I’m looking forward to,” he says.