The fascinating story behind Sajjad Ali's 'Babia'

Believe it or not, the track came into existence after an innocent request by the singer's mother

Sajjad Ali took the stage at the PSL opening ceremony last night where he performed his ever green number Babia. While it maybe up for debate whether performances at the ceremony were upto the mark , there is no denying that the song still manages to strike a chord whenever played.

Everybody knows that the song is heavily inspired by the popular Arabic track De Dia, with some even calling it a copy of it. However there is more to the story.

In 1993, Sajjad and Waqar had no idea how things would unfold when they were recording the song Babia. It was their take on the Arabic track De Dedia, which they made, not because it was a great song to replicate and launch an album with, but because their mother wanted to listen to the same song in Punjabi. It’s a fact confirmed by Sajjad himself.

Furthermore Babia was never meant to be a part of the album. It was just an additional song that was recorded by Sajjad for the sake of experimentation. However, the song was accidently played for the first time at Beena Benjamin’s (from the musical group Benjamin Sisters) wedding. The person who was playing music at the ceremony cued it, without Sajjad Ali’s permission.

This took Sajjad by surprise, but the rest of the people thoroughly enjoyed it. This was the moment when Beena showed keen interest in the song.

“She walked up to us and asked if we are releasing the song in Sajjad Bhai’s new album and since we were still in a state of shock, in a daze, we said yes,” recalls Waqar Ali, Sajjad’s brother.

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