Adnan's dog MJ takes cover as Jermaine arrives!

On Friday afternoon when the deceased legend Michael Jackson’s brother Jermaine arrived to collaborate with 
Jermaine arrived with his wife Halima. They both checked into the Taj but spent the entire evening at Adnan’s place discussing music, food, social concerns and Michael Jackson (MJ).

“It’s been an exhausting but amazing time since Jermaine arrived,” chuckles Adnan after an exhilarating session with Jermaine at the newly-revamped T-Series recording studio.

“That’s why I didn’t make any announcements about Jermaine’s arrival. I didn’t want to sound premature in my excitement since Jermaine had visa issues and his arrival in Mumbai was uncertain till the last minute.”

Adnan and Jermaine have got together to record a tribute to Mumbai City. “It will be part of an album we’ve been working on for two years long before Michael Jackson’s sudden death. Jermaine loves India and Mumbai. I could’ve easily joined him in Los Angeles to record the song. But Jermaine insisted on coming down.”

Adnan intends to make the third of the Jackson siblings familiar with the sights and sounds of Mumbai and India. “After the recording is over we’re going to Chowpatty and all the other hot spots of Mumbai. Jermaine loves Indian food. But he doesn’t want to have the 5-star stuff. He wants to taste the pao-bhaji, paani-puri, bhelpuri, batata-vada and all the street-slurps.”

A visit to the Taj Mahal is also on the anvil. “We’ll visit the Taj and Fatehpur Sikri where as you know, Tansen once sang. I’d have loved him to stay in my house. But I thought a hotel would be more comfortable for Jermaine and Halima. I’m bowled over by his humility and his hunger to learn and know about Indian culture. His down-to-earth nature reminds me of Mr Bachchan.”

Adnan plans a very exclusive sit-in dinner party in Jermaine’s honour at his home on October 7. Jermaine also heard Azaan’s music and loved it. The Jermaine-Adnan album will be marketed in India by T-Series and internationally on Jermaine’s label. “T series re-revamped their entire studio and equipment for Jermaine’s recording,” says Adnan. “We’re doing two songs together, one of them a tribute to Mumbai and its unstoppable energy.”

Says Adnan, “My son had a problem when Jermaine came home. He has two dogs named after Elvis Presley and MJ. ‘How can we call ‘MJ’ when Jermaine Uncle is around?’ I tried to convince him that the name was a tribute to MJ. But my son refused to call out our canine’s name while Jermaine was around.”

Jermaine Jackson to play with Adnan Sami

Brother of Late King of Pop, Jermaine Jackson is in the city for past couple of days. He came down to Mumbai for a music album which is bannered under T-Series. The album will also feature Adnan Sami and both the singers will be seen in a music video titled ‘Let’s Go to Mumbai City’. The video will be directed by Divya Khosla Kumar, wife of T-Series’ Bhushan Kumar and choreographer by Remo.

The video will show Mumbai’s important landmarks namely Gateway of India, CST, Haji Ali. While Adnan will be donning a Kurta, Jermaine be wearing a khadi jacket.  Talking about the song, the beautiful director said, “In the video, I’ll show both of them come here and mingle with the people. It won’t be easy to show all the important places in the city in a four-minute song, so we’ve only got a few options.” However, the song won’t be a total tribute to MJ. Divya clarified, “There is no scope in the song for the video to be a full-fledged tribute to MJ. But if you look hard enough, you’ll see that we’re definitely referencing him, whether it’s in a costume or a dance move.”

Divya revealed that Jermaine wanted drums in the song the way MJ had used in ‘They Don’t Care About Us’. So instead they will be using a few dhols to give it a desi flavour. The video will also be promoted overseas. For, the director said, “I want people to know about Mumbai. I’ll have Jermaine dancing techno a la MJ with slum kids who remain his big fans.” Sources have it that Jermaine Jackson will be in the city till 12th. Meanwhile it is said that the international singer had visited Shilpa Shetty, his former Celebrity Big Brother housemate, at her residence. The singer is with his wife Halima Rashid.