Updated October 2026: this article has been expanded into a full guide to Madari, covering its singers, meaning, musicians, the rest of Clinton Cerejo's Coke Studio episode and similar songs. Gaurav Aradhye's original 2012 review is preserved in full further down the page.
Madari is sung by Vishal Dadlani and Sonu Kakkar. It was composed and produced by Clinton Cerejo for Coke Studio @ MTV Season 2, and it first aired on 7 July 2012 in the opening episode of that season, which was Cerejo's episode. The Hindi lyrics are by Manoj Yadav and the Punjabi passage is traditional, drawn from the Sufi poet Bulleh Shah. The official upload on the Coke Studio India YouTube channel runs to about seven and three quarter minutes, and the full performance video is embedded in our original review below.
More than a decade later Madari is still the song most people mean when they talk about the Indian edition of Coke Studio. It sits at number 10 in our ranking of the best Coke Studio songs of all time, the highest placing of any song from the Indian editions.
What Madari means
A madari is a street showman, the kind who once worked village fairs and city pavements with a damru (a small hand drum) and a trained monkey or a young assistant, the jamoora, who performs on his command. Clinton Cerejo took the word literally. In the song's Hindi verses the singer casts God as the madari and himself as the jamoora: life is the show, the Almighty beats the drum, and the rest of us dance to it. Joy and grief, good fortune and bad, all come from the showman's hand, and the only sensible response is to surrender to his kindness.
The Punjabi section that Sonu Kakkar sings comes from Bulleh Shah, the 17th and 18th century Sufi poet whose name appears in the verse itself. Its idea is a favourite of his: pilgrims travel to Mecca, but for the true seeker the holy place is wherever the beloved, meaning God, is to be found. Set against Manoj Yadav's playful street-show imagery, it turns a fun, percussive song into a devotional one, which is why so many listeners find the last third of the track unexpectedly moving.
Who sings and plays on Madari
- Vishal Dadlani: one half of the composing duo Vishal and Shekhar and the frontman of the Mumbai rock band Pentagram. On Madari he starts low and husky and finishes with the high, sustained notes that most people remember.
- Sonu Kakkar: best known before Coke Studio for "Babuji Zara Dheere Chalo" from the 2003 film Dum, composed by Sandeep Chowta and sung with Sukhwinder Singh. She is the elder sister of the singers Neha Kakkar and Tony Kakkar. Her Bulleh Shah passage is the emotional centre of Madari.
- Clinton Cerejo: composer, producer and acoustic guitarist on the track.
- Chandrakant Lakshpati: the mandolin player whose riff opens the song and keeps returning between the verses.
- The house band: Lindsay D'Mello on drums, Rushad Mistry on bass, Shon Pinto on acoustic guitar, Nyzel D'Lima on electric guitar, Beven Fonseca and Aman Mahajan on keys, and Aslam and Haneef Dafrani on Indian percussion. The recording was engineered by Steve Fitzmaurice and Ashish Manchanda and mixed by Fitzmaurice at the Pierce Rooms in London.
Who is Clinton Cerejo?
Clinton Cerejo is a Mumbai-born singer, composer and producer who started out as a session singer on advertising jingles and went on to work with A. R. Rahman and other film composers. He is credited as a music producer on Vishal Bhardwaj's Omkara (2006) and Ishqiya (2010), and he sang on "Beedi" from Omkara. As a composer he scored the background music for Kahaani (2012), which won him a Mirchi Music Award, and later worked on films such as Badla (2019), for which he was nominated for the Filmfare award for Best Background Score. His wife Dominique Cerejo is also a singer, and Bianca Gomes, who appears in his Coke Studio episodes, is a frequent collaborator.
Cerejo produced episodes in two seasons of Coke Studio @ MTV: Season 2 in 2012, which gave us Madari, and Season 3 in 2013, which included Baina and Aisi Bani.
The other songs in Clinton Cerejo's Season 2 episode
Madari was one of six songs in the episode, all composed and produced by Cerejo, with most of the Hindi lyrics written by Manoj Yadav. Watched together, they show how carefully he built the set around devotional and folk ideas.
- Saathi Salaam (Sawan Khan Manganiyar and Clinton Cerejo): a reworking of a traditional Manganiyar folk song from Rajasthan, sung in Sindhi and Hindi, and a tribute to God as man's most reliable companion. It was the first song released from Season 2 and runs to over ten minutes.
Saathi Salaam - Clinton Cerejo feat Sawan Khan Manganiyar, Coke Studio @ MTV Season 2 - Banjara (Vijay Prakash and Nandini Srikar): a song about the restless, wandering human spirit. Manoj Yadav uses a verse by Amir Khusro as the opening alaap, and Cerejo sets the whole thing on a pop and funk groove.
Banjara - Clinton Cerejo feat Vijay Prakash & Nandini Srikar, Coke Studio @ MTV Season 2 - Chhadh De (Master Saleem): an introspective song about letting go of desire, with a string section and a prominent cello solo by Jake Charkey. Master Saleem's powerful Punjabi-style voice is the right fit for its slow build.
Chaddh De - Clinton Cerejo feat Master Saleem, Coke Studio @ MTV Season 2 - Mauje Naina (Bianca Gomes with Altamash and Shadab Faridi): the lightest song of the set, mixing Hindi and English, with Altamash and Shadab Faridi's Sufi-style vocals set against Gomes's pop voice.
Mauje Naina - Clinton Cerejo feat Bianca Gomes, Shadab & Altamash, Coke Studio @ MTV Season 2 - Dungar (Sawan Khan Manganiyar with the Salvation Singers): a short closing piece that sets traditional Sindhi verse alongside an English choir singing Psalm 61.
Dungar - Clinton Cerejo feat Sawan Khan Manganiyar & Salvation Singers, Coke Studio @ MTV Season 2
Similar Coke Studio India songs to play after Madari
- Husna (Hitesh Sonik with Piyush Mishra, Season 2, 2012): from the same season, a letter from a man in Lahore to a woman left behind in India after Partition. Where Madari is about surrender, Husna is about loss, and it is just as theatrical.
Husna - Hitesh Sonik feat Piyush Mishra, Coke Studio @ MTV Season 2 - Aisi Bani (Clinton Cerejo with Bianca Gomes, Vijay Prakash and Sonu Kakkar, Season 3, 2013): the closest thing to a sequel. Cerejo brought Sonu Kakkar back the following year, and her folk-style vocal again does the heavy lifting.
Aisi Bani - Clinton Cerejo, Bianca Gomes, Vijay Prakash & Sonu Kakkar - Coke Studio @ MTV Season 3 - Zariya (A. R. Rahman with Ani Choying and Farah Siraj, Season 3, 2013): Rahman brings together Ani Choying, a Buddhist nun from Nepal, and the Jordanian singer Farah Siraj, in three languages. Another devotional song that reaches well beyond any one language.
Zariya - AR Rahman, Ani Choying, Farah Siraj - Coke Studio @ MTV Season 3 - Khumaar (Papon, Season 3, 2013): a slow, unhurried solo from Papon's own episode, for when you want the calm after Madari's storm. Our guide to Papon's Coke Studio episode covers the rest of that set, and our Season 3 overview covers the whole season.
Khumaar - Papon - Coke Studio @ MTV Season 3
Frequently Asked Questions
Who sang Madari in Coke Studio?
Madari was sung by Vishal Dadlani and Sonu Kakkar. Vishal sings the Hindi verses and Sonu sings the Punjabi Bulleh Shah passage in the middle, before the two come together near the end.
Which Coke Studio season is Madari from?
Coke Studio @ MTV Season 2, the Indian edition broadcast on MTV India. It was part of Clinton Cerejo's episode, the first of the season, which aired on 7 July 2012.
Who composed and wrote Madari?
Clinton Cerejo composed and produced it. The Hindi lyrics are by Manoj Yadav, and the Punjabi lyrics are traditional, taken from the poetry of Bulleh Shah.
What does the word Madari mean?
A madari is a street performer or showman, traditionally one who works with a damru and a performing monkey or assistant called a jamoora. In the song, God is the madari and the singer is the jamoora who dances to his drum.
Who played the mandolin in Madari?
Chandrakant Lakshpati. His mandolin introduces the song and returns between the vocal sections, and he is clearly visible in the official video.
Our Original Review (2012)
Gaurav Aradhye wrote this review in September 2012. It is preserved below as originally published.
Madari is one of the tracks from the Coke Studio episode produced by Clinton Cerejo. The song has been sung by Vishal (from Vishal-Shekhar duo) and Sonu Kakkar. Most of you would remember the song ‘Babuji jara dheere chalo‘, which was a superhit around a decade back. Well, Sonu Kakkar sung that! But trust me, the Sonu Kakkar you will see in this song is totally different from that one.
Madari - Clinton Cerejo feat Vishal Dadlani & Sonu Kakkar, Coke Studio @ MTV Season 2If one were to ask me what is so great about this song, I would just say that this song will make you dance, laugh and cry in a span of 8 minutes. How many songs you know will have a similar effect on you? This song is powerful, magical and mind you, you will get addicted!
I would suggest that you watch the video too to appreciate this song and the artistes fully.
The song starts off with haunting keyboard notes and gradually acoustic guitar and mandolin start to make their presence felt. At 0:26, the mandolin comes in full flow. The Mandolin piece, played effortlessly by Mr.Chandrakant Lakshapati is a very important part of this song, you will realise why I am saying this as you listen to the rest of the song. The song picks pace at 0:58 with some great work on acoustic guitar by Clinton Cerejo himself. I love the way how the song starts, the sequence till now perfectly builds the platform on which Vishal and Sonu Kakkar do absolute wonders!
Vishal’s husky voice is perfectly suited to this song. He compliments the lyrics with the depth that naturally comes with his voice. Notice that the vocals at the start are at a pretty low note and Vishal does full justice to them. Mind you, this is the same singer who sings high notes with supreme ease! What a versatile singer!
The section from 1:08 to 3:10, which Vishal sings, is full of energy. It makes you dance with joy. The mandolin meanwhile keeps weaving its magic! Between 2:46 and 2:57, you will see Mr.Chadrakant just sitting and playing the mandolin as if it’s very easy and anybody can do it! Look at the sheer effortlessness with which he is playing it, beautiful isn’t it?
And now comes the most beautiful part of this song. Sonu Kakkar, who till now, has just been standing there gets into action and how! How many times have you seen a singer take the limelight away from Vishal? Well, here, Sonu does exactly that.
The first ten seconds of her singing (from 3:03 to 3:11) are more than enough to tell you that this singer is something else! Your ears are now glued to the song wondering what she will do next. Trust me, her singing only gets better. Now just sit back, close your eyes and concentrate on the music. Let Sonu Kakkar’s vocals engulf you and make you experience what true happiness is. At 4:21, notice the smile of appreciation on Vishal’s face. He like us is wondering how on the earth can she sound so beautiful?! The words which Sonu is singing are by none other than Bulleh Shah, the famous and revered Sufi poet from 17th century. Do not miss the bass guitar in background when Sonu is singing. Also, at 4:30, you will see the peculiar way in which the percussion instrument is being played. This is what Coke Studio is known for – innovation!
Vishal joins Sonu at 4:54 – try to understand the note at which Vishal is singing here. It is unbelievably high! Only Vishal can sing in that high note and his voice doesn’t break at all. Mandolin kicks in again at 5:28 to belt out a beautiful tune.
The next part of the song sung by Vishal starts at 5:46. This part makes me very emotional and makes my eyes well up every time I listen to it. The lyrics talk about the greatness of God and how he alone is behind everything that happens in this world. I am reminded of how powerful and at the same time how loving God is. I am also reminded of my lack of gratitude towards him. I have many times thought that I am independent, I can do anything I want and God doesn’t deserve any credit for my life. But no, I realise that though I am just a tiny drop in the scheme of God’s things, he loves me and will always there for me. I am moved to tears because I realise that I should be more thankful to God for the blessings he has showered on me!
Do not miss the small harkats by Vishal in this part; also notice how his hand movements follow his singing. Beautiful! It shows how involved he is with the song.
This song shows what can be done when you have an excellent team. Every person who is in this music video has done his best and the result is a very sincere and beautiful song which enthrals us. Thank you Clinton Cerejo and team, we are indebted.
