Audience mindset to blame for songs glorifying violence: Satinder Sartaaj

He said every singer wants to sing good song; but, when it comes to getting viewership, they are forced to sing songs that glamorise liquor or gangsters, as the audience likes that.

Days after the Punjab police started a drive to meet and ask singers not to “glamorise liquor and gangsters”, Punjabi singer Satinder Sartaaj, known for his Sufi-inspired melodies, said on Wednesday that the mindset of the audience, too, needs to be changed.

Sufi singer Satinder Sartaj performing at CT Institute in Jalandhar on Wednesday. (Pardeep Pandit/HT)

Sartaaj, who was in Jalandhar to perform and launch his new album, said, “Every singer wants to sing good songs; but, when it comes to getting viewership, they are forced to sing songs that glamorise liquor or gangsters, as the audience likes that. When the audience starts listening to good songs, singers will automatically change.”

He added that there only a few such singers — “maybe 10 or 15” — who sing such songs, “but they are getting billions of views on their videos” while songs with “clean lyrics” get very few hits online.

He suggested, “We should change the mindset, especially of the youth, first. This can be possible if institutions such as colleges and schools, start organising seminars in which psychiatrists tell them the difference between good and bad lyrics, which will change the psychological aspect.”