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Surinder Kaur

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For member of the Indian Women's Hockey Team, see Surinder Kaur (field hockey).

Surinder Kaur
Birth nameSurinder Kaur
Also known asNightingale of Punjab
Born(1929-11-25)25 November 1929
OriginLahore, British India
Died15 June 2006(2006-06-15) (aged 76)
New Jersey, United States
GenresFolk, Filmi
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter, Playback singing
Years active1943–2006

Surinder Kaur was a Punjabi singer-songwriter. She sang mainly Punjabi folk songs, where she is credited for pioneering and popularising the genre and later was known as the 'Nightingale of Punjab'. She also sang songs in some Hindi movies as playback singer, between 1948 and 1952.[1][2][3]

In an illustrious career spanning nearly six decades, her repertoire included Punjabi Sufi Kafis of Bulleh Shah and verses by contemporary poets like Nand Lal Noorpuri, Amrita Pritam, Mohan Singh and Shiv Kumar Batalvi giving memorable songs like, maavan 'te dheean, jutti kasuri paireen na poori, madhaniyan, ehna akhiyan 'ch pavan kiven kalra and ghaman di raat lammi hai jan mere geet lamme ne. In time her wedding songs, most notably lathe di chadar, suhe ve cheere waleya and kaala doria, became an indelible part of Punjabi culture.[4]

Early life

Surinder Kaur was born in 1929 in Lahore, back then part of British India, in a Punjabi-Sikh family. She was the sister of Parkash Kaur and the mother of Dolly Guleria, both noted Punjabi singers. She had three daughters of which Dolly is the eldest.[5]

Career

Surinder Kaur made her professional debut with a live performance on Lahore Radio in August 1943, and the following year on 31 August 1943, she and her elder sister, Parkash Kaur cut their first duet, "maavan 'te dheean ral baithian", for the HMV label, emerging as superstars across the Indian subcontinent.[1][4][6]

Following the Partition of India in 1947, Kaur and her parents relocated to Ghaziabad, Delhi. Later she married Professor Joginder Singh Sodhi, a lecturer in Punjabi literature at Delhi University. Recognising her talent, Kaur's husband became her support system, and soon she started a career as a playback singer in Hindi film industry in Bombay, introduced by music director, Ghulam Haider. Under him she sang three songs in the 1948 film Shaheed, including Badnam Na Ho Jaye Mohabbat Ka Fasaana, Aanaa hai tho aajaao and Taqdeer ki aandhi…hum kahaan aur thum kahaan. Her true interest however lay in stage performances and reviving Punjabi folk songs, and she eventually moved back to Delhi in 1952.[4]

In the decades to follow, her husband continued to guide her singing career. "He was the one who made me a star," she later recalled. "He chose all the lyrics I sang and we both collaborated on compositions." Together Kaur and Sodhi wrote such classics as Chan Kithe Guzari Aai Raat, Lathe Di Chadar, Shonkan Mele Di, and Gori Diyan Jhanjran and Sarke-Sarke Jandiye Mutiare. The couple they also served as the public face of the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA), an arm of the Indian Communist party in Punjab, spreading messages of peace and love to the most remote villages of East Punjab; she also travelled to many parts of the world performing Punjabi folk songs, gaining rapid popularity.

In all, Kaur recorded more than 2,000 songs, including duets with Asa Singh Mastana, Karnail Gill, Harcharan Grewel, Rangila Jatt, and Didar Sandhu. Although her life and collaboration with Sodhi was cut short upon the educator's death in 1976, she continued the family's creative tradition via duets with their daughter and disciples, Rupinder Kaur Guleria, better known as Dolly Guleria and granddaughter Sunaini, culminating in the 1995 LP, 'Surinder Kaur – The Three Generations.[7]

Awards and recognition

She was conferred the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Punjabi Folk Music in 1984, by the Sangeet Natak Academi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance and Theatre,[8] the Millennium Punjabi Singer award,[9] and Padma Shri award in 2006 for her contribution in Arts.[10] The Guru Nanak Dev University conferred on her a doctorate in the year 2002.[4]

Illness and death

Towards the later part of her life, wanting to get close to her mitti, Surinder Kaur settled in Panchkula in 2004, with an aim to construct a house in Zirakpur, near Chandigarh. Subsequently, on 22 December 2005, she suffered a heart attack and was admitted to General Hospital, Panchkula.[4] Later, however, she looked up and personally went to Delhi to receive the coveted Padma Shri Award in January 2006. It is another matter that she was painfully aware of the events that delayed the honour for so long, despite her unparalleled contribution to Punjabi music. But even when she received the award she was regretful that the nomination for the same had come from Haryana and not Punjab for which she worked tirelessly through five decades.[9]

In 2006, a prolonged illness prompted her to seek treatment in the US she died in a New Jersey hospital on 15 June at the age of 77. She was survived by three daughters, eldest, singer Dolly Guleria who lives in Panchkula, followed by Nandini Singh and Pramodini Jaggi, both settled in New Jersey.[1] Upon the death, the Prime minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh described her as "the nightingale of Punjab", and "a legend in Punjabi folk music and popular music and a trend-setter in Punjabi melody." and added, "I hope that her immortal voice will motivate other artists to practice the right Punjabi folk music tradition".[11]

Legacy

A 2006 Doordarshan documentary titled, Punjab Di Koyal (Nightingale of Punjab), on the life and works of Surinder Kaur, received the Doordarshan National Awards – 2006.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Punjab's Nightingale is no more". The Tribune. 16 June 2006.
  2. ^ "Surinder Kaur". LastFM.
  3. ^ "Tributes paid to melody queen". The Tribune. 26 June 2006.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Surinder Kaur leaves Delhi to settle in Punjab". The Tribune. 24 April 2004.
  5. ^ "The Sunday Tribune – Books". The Tribune. 14 June 2006. Retrieved 26 February 2012.
  6. ^ Surinder Kaur sadapunjab.com.
  7. ^ "Her mother's daughter". The Tribune. 31 July 1998.
  8. ^ "SNA Awards: Other Forms of Music Dance and Theatre". Sangeet Natak Akademi.
  9. ^ a b "Surinder Kaur gets Padma Shri". The Tribune. 28 January 2006.
  10. ^ "Padma Shri Official listings". Govt. of India.
  11. ^ "Prime Minister condoles death of Smt. Surinder Kaur". Prime Minister's Office. 17 June 2006.
  12. ^ "DD's honourable men". The Tribune. 22 November 2006.


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