~~~ Kuch Mahan Gayak Te Ona Da Pichokad ~~

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~~~Shergill Jamsheria~~~
Chamkila

A Brief Biography
Chamkila was born "Dunni Ram" on July 21st 1961 in Dugri, Ludhiana. Chamkila was from a poor family and lived in great poverty. He had one brother and two sisters whom were older than him. His mother, Kartar Kaur, passed away when Chamkila was a young child, and his older sisters and father used to take care of him.

Chamkila had always wanted to become an electrician but due to family difficulties he had to leave his education and work in Ludhiana in a cloth mill. Chamkila had one of his first songs sang by "Narinder Biba and Surinder Sharma" by the age of 10. The majority of Chamkila's earlier songs had lyrics to do with electricity such as shock and connection etc, due to the fact he wanted to become an electrician.

Chamkila was a talented musician from a young age and used to play the dholki and vaja for pocket money whilst still at school. He later played the dholki for singers such as Surinder Shinda, K.deep, Jagmohan Kaur and M.Siddque.By the age of 15 he had a number of songs sung by famous Punjabi folk singers, such as Surinder Shinda, Narinder Biba, Kulie Ram, Bibi Tara and Sohan Lal etc.


The name Chamkila comes from the name Rangila, who used to be a folk singer that Chamkila admired greatly. Chamkila comes from the word "Chamak" (shine) as he wanted to shine forever in the world of music. Chamkila began to play the dholki and vaja for Surinder Shinda regularly. It was here that Chamkila began to make his stage career as he would perform on Shinda's stage during intervals.

Chamkila soon went solo leaving Shinda. When Chamkila left, he took Surinder Sonia, and much of Shinda's band and stage comedian. Chamkila and Surinder Sonia released their first record in 1979. Punjabi Folk fans grew fond of Chamkila's style quickly as he had a very charismatic personality. In addition to singing his own songs he continued to write and sell his songs to other artists.

Chamkila left Sonia in 1980 and began singing with Miss Usha, which was only a stage arrangement. By late 1980 he heard of a famous female singer called Amarjyot who sang with Kuldip Manak.. She soon became his permanent singing partner.

At the time of joining with Amarjyot, Chamkila was married. This partnership with Amarjyot lead to a break up of his marriage in December of 1982. Their first LP record together was "Lack Mera Kach Varga" which included a song written by Pali Dethawalia entitled "Chack Lo Drivero".

People began to become offended by the fact Chamkila was of the "Chamaar" caste and Amarjyot a "Tharkani". Due to this Chamkila began to use Singh in his name and became Amar Singh. Chamkila rarely used his first name after that. It also became a rarity for him to mention the name of his pind when writing songs.

By 1984 Chamkila and Amarjyot were in high demand and were producing hit LP after LP with new songs all written by Chamkila. The songs that Chamkila sang were mainly about relationships which some people found offensive. Chamkila began to get hate mail and threats to his life.

In the early 80's, Chamkila such countries as, USA, Canada, Dubai and Bahrain. Accompanying Chamkila on stage would be comedians (Tukuan or Mano) who would do impressions of Mehal Mittal. His shows lasted about 2-3 hours and every show began with a few religious songs.

Chamkila continued to get more and more hate mail but Chamkila always said "this is my music this is what I sing if you don't like it, then don't buy my records and don't call me to your functions". In HMV's recording history, 3 of Chamkila's LP records are still the highest selling records that were ever produced by a Punjabi singer.

After receiving more letters from angry fans saying Chamkila you have many songs containing vulgar and offensive lyrics. Do something good. Chamkila produced 3 LP records of dharmik geet (religious songs). His religious songs became number 1 hits. Chamkila however, only wrote a few religious songs himself. Most of them he bought from other writers. All profits that came from the religious songs went direct to the charities and local gurudwara's. This was done as Chamkila said it was God who gave him the gift of music and what better way to say thank you to God.

By late 1985 Chamkila stopped singing his more offensive songs. The public was still unhappy and wanted Chamkila to stop singing altogether. Chamkila started to write and sing songs which were of a very serious nature.

Chamkila was killed in a show in "Mesumpur" as he stepped out of his car. Amarjyot was pregnant at the time and was shot in the chest and Chamkila was killed with 4 bullets in the chest alongside Gill Surjit and the dholki player Raja. The other members such as Tukham escaped. The blame was put on terrorists. A Curfew order took place when Chamkila was killed and riots between gangs broke out.

Chamkila died on the 8th March 1988. The reasoning behind his death is not fully known. Many people have speculated that Chamkila was killed because of jealousy of other singers. It is said that the others singers grouped together and got him killed. But then again their were many other popular singers, Why Chamkila?
 

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~~~Shergill Jamsheria~~~
JAZZY B

Jazzy B (aka "The Crown Prince of Bhangra" and "The Original Folksta"), born on April 1, 1975 as Jaswinder Singh Bains in Nawanshahr, Punjab, India, is a popular Bhangra artist who is easily recognized by fans of the genre with his spiky hair, stylish clothes, and the range and depth of his vocals. He moved to Vancouver, Canada at the age of five and now resides in Birmingham, England. He has worldwide appeal as he often tours Canada, England, India, the United States, and many other parts of the world where there is a large Punjabi population. Before becoming a Punjabi singer, Jazzy was a star hockey player for his high school hockey team and was pursuing a career in professional sports.
'Hat Picheh: The Canadian Spice', his successful debut album, was released in 1993 and instantly made him a star. Since then he has become the best-selling Bhangra artist in the world, helping bring the genre back to the forefront of the Asian music scene. He has released eleven albums including 'Folk 'n' Funky' in 1995, 'All Eyez on Me' in 1999, 'Surma' in 2000, 'Oh Kedhi' in 2001, 'Tera Roop' in 2002, and his latest release 'Romeo' in 2004.
His albums are produced by Sukhshinder Shinda, a talented Bhangra producer and artist known as 'The Music Man'. Together they have created some of the most popular Bhangra hits, including "Ghugian da Jorra", "Londono Patola", "Naag", "Tera Roop", "Sardara", "Dil Luteya", and "Soorma".
In 1997, Jazzy B had major problems with his throat which required surgery. Having lost his voice and not being able to sing for over a year, he says he turned to God for help and miraculously got his voice back. After going through this experience, he did something very uncommon at the time for a Bhangra superstar by releasing the Sikhi spiritual album 'Singha di Kaum Bahdhur hai' in 1999. Since then other popular Punjabi artists have followed in his steps and released religious material.
Jazzy B made his acting debut in 2000 with a cameo appearance in the Bollywood film 'Shaheed Udham Singh' [1] which starred fellow Punjabi singer and actor Gurdas Maan. His music was also featured on the film's album. In 2006, Jazzy B made another cameo when he was featured in the movie 'Teesri Aankh'[2] performing the bhangra-pop song 'Chug De Punjabi'.
The reason for Jazzy B's popularity and success in Bhangra is his style which is quite different from other artists in the genre. From his unique appearance to his westernized songs and music videos, he has revolutionized the image of Bhangra. The music videos for his latest singles "Soorma" and "Romeo" have been based on American Hip hop music videos and feature Hummer H2's and the Rap group Takeova Ent. In 2005 there was some controversy regarding the video for his single "Soorma" in which the actors appearing in the video along with Jazzy B were known drug dealers who were later convicted of various drug related charges. The H2 Hummers featured in the video were also supplied by these actors, and were later re-possessed by the federal government. Also in 2005 Jazzy B and fellow music star Sukshinder Shinda had a tour called "Balle - Romeo", which promoted Jazzy B's album Romeo and Sukshinder Shinda's album Balle. He played at various places around the world including Paramount Canada's Wonderland which attracted an amazing crowd of over 65,000 people. This was a record breaking day for Canada's Wonderland never having this many attendants the the theme park in it's history
 

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~~~Shergill Jamsheria~~~
KULDEEP MANAK

Kuldeep Manak was born Latif Mohammed on 15th November 1951 in the village of Jalal in the Bhatinda district. His father, Nikka Khan, was a singer himself. Manak has two brothers: Siddqui, a famous devotional singer, and Rafiq, a tantric, who hit the headlines when he was arrested for molestation in 2003.

Manak was the youngest in his class and was called "Manka" by his classmates and friends. He completed his matriculation from the village school, where he was a keen hockey player. He had an inclination towards singing from a very young age and was persuaded by his teachers to sing and perform on stage. In 1968, at only 17 years of age, he was given the chance to sing with 'Seema', a very popular singer of that period.

He is married to Sarabjeet and has two children, a son Yuhdhveer Manak and a daughter Shakti. Yudhveer is following in his father`s footsteps as an up-and-coming singer from Punjab.


Singing career

Manak left Bhatinda and went to Ludhiana to pursue his career as a singer. He started singing with the famous duo Harcharan Grewal and Seema. When they came to Delhi, a music company official spotted Manak and asked him to record the song Jija Akhian Na Maar Vemain Kal Di Kuri (written by Babu Singh Maan Mararawale) with Seema. His first record features this song along with Laung Karaa Mitran, Machli Paunge Maape (written by Gurdev Singh Mann). This record was a runaway success.

He started an office at Bhatinda along with writer Dilip Singh Sidhu, but did not stay there for long and returned to Ludhiana. The famous writer Hardev Dilgir (also known as Dev Thrikewala) spotted Manak at one of his live performances and penned Lok Gathava (English: Old Stories) for him.

His first EP, Teri Khatir Heere, was released In 1978 his first LP was released. It included the songs Tere Tilley Ton, Chheti Kar Sarwan Bachaa and Ghar Mukiave Dee Naara. Further albums included Saahibaan Da Tarla, Ichharan Dhaahaan Mardee and Saahibaan Bani Bhraawaan Dee.
 

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~~~Shergill Jamsheria~~~
GURDAS MANN SAAB


He was born in the holy Village of Gidderbaha, Distt. Muktsar in the state of Indian Punjab on 5th January 1952. In his college days he was a good athlete. He has Black Belt in the game of Judo. He was good singer since his college/university days. He also took part in various festivals and got the awards for the same. Apart from this he is a good Actor too and has also took part in many stage shows during his college life. After getting his masters degree in Physical Education, he looked out for a job. He got the job in Punjab State Electricity Board. But the fate did not let him to do the job. While seeking job he did not give up the stage and singing. In one of his stage shows he sang a song titled "Dil Da Mamla Hai", and at that place a representative of the HMV music company was present. He listened to him and called him to his office later. After that incident he got the invitation from that company to release his first album under the same title "Dil Da Mamla Hai". And since then, he never saw back. He has given many successful albums like, Mamla Garbarh Hai, Masti, Peer Tere Jaan Di, Wah Ni Jawaniye, Chugliyan Chugliyan, Mohabbat Zindabad, Ishq Na Vekhe Jaat, Yaar Mera Pyar, Punjiree etc. His last album 'HEER' got very much successfull. On 10th of December, 2005, his new Album 'Valaitan' released. And according to the reliable sources the 1st Edition got sold within the two days in Punjab.


He loves the rich culture of Punjab. He has sung many songs on the theme of Punjab, Punjabi Language and Punjabi Culture like, Chhalla (the most popular), Apna Punjab Hove, Punjabiye Zubane, Yaar Punjabi, Punjeeri and many more. His all songs have a Sufiana touch which makes his songs popular in every class of audience.


He acts in films too. His first film was Mamla Garbarh Hai. He has acted in about 14 films. His latest film "Des Hoya Pardes" with Juhi Chawla, was released on 14th January - 2005 and is running successfully all over. He married to Mrs. Manjeet Kaur Maan and he has one son (Gurekam Singh) studying abroad.


He got three music awards for Best Lyrics (Kudiye), Best Song (Heer), and the top most awaited Best Singer of the Year, in ETC Channel Punjabi Music Awards organised by ETC Channel Punjabi and ALFA TV Punjabi (now Zee Punjabi), on 6th March, 2005.


I need your comments about this dedicated site and about Mr. Gurdas Maan Sahib as well. Send me more information about this living legend please. I will be very thankful to you for the same.


Someone have written these little words in his praise.

IK GAWIYA AISA JEHRA SABH DE MANN NU BHAVE
DILAN DE OHDE MAMLE BHAIDE, GARBAGH KARDA JAVE
OH KEHNDA MAIN MARJANA, PAR RAB BACHAUNDA JAVE
GOGI, ZINDGI SAFLI HAI, DARSHAN OHDE PAVE
OH ZINDGI SAFLI HAI............!!!!
 

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~~~Shergill Jamsheria~~~
MANMOHAN WARIS

Manmohan Waris is one of the top Punjabi singers in the world. He has been around for almost 13 years now. Since he released his first album "Gairan Naal Peenghan Jhootdeye' in 1993, he has never looked back. Punjabis around the world love him and he feels the pressure of not letting them down. His humbleness and sincerity has won many hearts. His voice is considered one of the sweetest around and his songs attest to his passion for clean and literary lyrics
Background
He was born into a farming family in the Village of Halluwal, Punjab. He had a great interest in music since an early age. He started his formal music training at the age of 11. Everything he learned from his Guru, he taught his younger brothers. So all three brothers got seriously involved in music at a very early age. He got his music degree from Punjab University. But the most influential music Guru he had was Shree Jaswant Singh Bhanwra. Unlike many other Punjabi singers who also learned music from Shree Jaswant Singh Bhanwra, the Guru did not teach him so called "Lok-Gaayiki", he insisted on teaching him the real music he knew himself. He saw a great singer in Manmohan and he wanted him to shine. In 1990, Manmohan Waris's family moved to Canada. Here he made his first album 'Gairan Naal Peenghan Jhootdeye.' The album was a great success and when Waris returned to Punjab, Punjabi's everywhere just couldn't get enough of him. So he decided to move back to India. His career has never seen a foggy day since that time. Waris' philosophy about his name and fame may have something to do with that. In his opinion "keeping your name on the top is not an easy thing, you have to work hard to get here, and you have to work harder to stay here"

Manmohan's last religious release, named “Ghar Hun Kitni Ku Doore…” contained 8 very touching and thoughtful songs. The title song of this album, that gives us a peak into the psyche of the young Sahibzadas’ minds after they got separated from the family, brings tears into eyes. Another song form this album 'Dukh Vichhade Nankane da' is a passive challenge to the active Sikh community and reminds us of our lost treasures in the political games of history.



Latest
Manmohan Waris’s latest release was the live show audio video ‘Punjabi Virsa.’ This show set many new records and precedents. The quality and the perfection of the recording and the performance of this release challenged the Punjabi music lovers to expect more from an artist. There is no Punjabi music lover around the world who has not have a copy of this performance.


  1. Discography
  2. Gairan Naal Peenghan Jhootdeye
  3. Sohnian De Laaray
  4. Husdi De Ful Kirde
  5. Sajjre Challe Muklavay
  6. Gali Gali Vich Hokay
  7. Chardi Kala ‘ch Panth Khalsa
  8. Mitran Da Sah Rukda
  9. Husn Da Jadu
  10. Gajray Gori De
  11. Dil Vatte Dil
  12. Ghar Hun Kitni ku Doore
  13. Nachiye Majajne
  14. Punjabi Virsa
Manmohan spends most of the year in Punjab and he tours the west in the summer. Manmohan's songs are evergreen songs. People remember his earliest work same way as they do his latest. Manmohan's latest Punjabi Album is tited "Nachiye Majajne". The album got a great response from Punjabis everywhere. The title song "Aja Appan Nachiye Majajne" with its Desi music and Dhole rhythms is a milestone on the future path of Punjabi music.

Dedication

The success of 'Punjabi Virsa.' proves that there is still room for literary and meaningful poetry in the fast paced, single based commercial Punjabi music world. Waris has always worked hard to put his efforts where his heart is. He is always eager to point out anything that gets his attention. He has never sung a song to gain mere a commercial success. But this is not his greatness, his greatness is that he doesn't do it to serve his language or his native land; he just does it because he is that kind of person and it is his nature.
 

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~~~Shergill Jamsheria~~~
A.S.KANG is a world renowned singer whose career spans over four decades. He is an artist of the highest calibre with a fan following transcending the full circumference of the globe. He is a true legend amidst us. Kang's name is synonymous with some of the biggest hits in the histroy of Punjabi Music. A one-man industry setting trends and new directions for punjabi and Bhangra music over four decades.
Kang's musical career started in the early 1970's, his first ever recording "Lut Ke lehgai" was a massive hit across the UK and the lead to the start of a new phenomena.



In 1978 Kang went on to produce the biggest Punjabi song of all time "Giddian di Rani" and become the first UK based punjabi artist to break into the Indian market.

Signed to HMV (INDIA), he got the opportunity to work with some of the best music directors in India including K.S.Narula (the father of Jaspinder Narula).

In the 1980's he teamed up with Charanjit Ahuja India's No1 music director and went on to conquer the music world with hits like "Ashiq Tera" and "Lambharan Di Nau Nachdi". He also became the first UK artist to tour the United States and Canada and Europe.

In 1993 A.S.Kang's greatest feat was to rescue the British Bhangra Industry from the clutches of the confused fusion artists of the nineties by teaming up with music maestro Sukshinder Shinda Kang produced some of the biggest-selling albums of the decade.

He single handily turned the industry, and people's taste in music, around with his blistering vocals on the colossal hit "Boliyan" on Flashback and "Valeti Boliyan" on Kang-Fu: and sent riples across the worlds dance floors.

This gave Kang the title "King of Boliyan" and with it Legedary status as one of the pioneers of Bhangra Music across the world.

In 1995 Kang sewept the board at the asian pop awards by winning 5 awards including best male singer, dance track. album, writer,and best selling artist.

The new millenium has seen Kang's popularity grow stronger than ever with the help of his Super Hit Album "Aish Karo". Aish Karo is the most requested Song at any Asian Party and "Khao Pio, Aish Karo" has now become one of the most popular catchphrases around. There's just no stopping him - A.S.Kang's music will be around for many years to come.
 

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~~~Shergill Jamsheria~~~
SARDOOL SIKANDAR

From Roadways De Larry in 1987 to O-ho, Sardool Sikander has come a long way. He attributes success of the album to rewarding confluence of western and traditional folk music which has resulted in sum extremely delightful numbers, a couple of which are currently on various count down shows. Sardool has 27 albums to his credit.

A lot of hard work and effort has gone in to his present day success. Born in the Kheri Naudh Singh in district Ludhiana, he belongs to the Patiala Gharana of music. " Actually for my first album Roadways De Larry, in 1987, I had sung all the songs in different voices. So the people thought it to be album by different signers. I sum how did not get much credit for it. That possibly is the reason why I had to wait for some time before my voice got recognized." Of course, now he has many hit albums including Husna De Malikon, Nakhra Janab Da under his belt.


The most important factor behind the success of Punjabi Pop has been the fact that it is no longer confined to the regional boundaries.


Sardool calls it the charisma of real singing which has the capabilities of transgressing artificial, " the real singing, especially in Punjabi can never be confined to one reason, Moreover, Punjabi music is in demand among youth."


However, lately there has been an increasing trend in the Punjabi pop whether it has been Jasbeer Jassi, Harbhajan Mann or for that matter Sardool himself, of being influenced by the western pop music, So much so that without the vocals an album could easily be mistaken for an English one. The original folk tunes and the feel have somehow become redundant in these otherwise technically superb albums. Sardool feels that like every other field there has to be a change in Punjabi music too.

According to Sardool, "Punjabi music should change with time. Moreover, we need modern instruments and techniques to reach the younger audience, especially the non-Punjabis, Videos also help to do so and encourage people to buy the album. I strongly oppose vulgarity which is quite evident from the video of Ik Kudi dil Utte chha gayi. It is an extremely attractive video but doesn't have an iota of vulgarity."

The music of his latest album O-ho is by Jaidev Kumar. As far as Punjabi music, or for that matter, music is any other language is concerned, Music director is important for the success of any album. Sardool, while acknowledging the fact, says that it is true that with his latest album Jaidev has edit one more feather to his cap but the success of any album his due to other factor as well. In his case, he says,each track is a perfect blend of Punjabi folk music, meaningful lyrics and powerful vocals to give the album a distinctive flavour infact
 

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~~~Shergill Jamsheria~~~
SHIV KUMAR BATALVI

Shiv Kumar was a born poet who migrated from the poetic region of Sialkot to Batala at the most miserable moment of human history. It was the Independence of the sub-continent in 1947 - the dreadful, painful, horrible, miserable, devastating, slaughtering and marauding phenomenon, which bisected the trouble stricken North India. The pangs of separation are recurrent themes of this great lyricist of the land. He has been hailed as one of the great poets of all times.
Sh iv Kumar was born on July 23, 1936 in Bara Pind Lohtian (Shakargarh tehsil), in Punjab (now Pakistan). His father was a Patwari by the name of Pandit Krishan Gopal. After the partition his family moved to Batala. As a child Shiv is said to have been fascinated by birds and rugged, thorny plants on the Punjabi landscape. Shiv was exposed to the -ramlila- at an early age, and it is to be expected that he received what was later to become his instinctive understanding of drama from these early performances.

Shiv passed his matriculate exams in 1953, from Punjab University. He went on to enrol in the F.Sc. programme at Baring Union Christian College in Batala. Before completing his degree he moved to S.N. College, Qadian into their Arts program. It is here that he began to sing ghazals and songs for his classmates. Shiv never gave the final exams he needed to pass to receive his degree.


Around this period, he met a girl named Maina at a fair in Baijnath. When he went back to look for her in her hometown, he heard the news of her death and wrote his elegy -Maina-. This episode was to prefigure numerous other partings that would serve as material to distil into poems. Perhaps the most celebrated such episode is his fascination for Gurbaksh Singh-s daughter who left for the US and married someone else. When he heard of the birth of her first child, Shiv wrote -Main ek shikra yaar banaya-, perhaps his most famous love poem. It-s said that when she had her second child, someone asked Shiv whether he would write another poem. Shiv replied -Have I become responsible for her? Am I to write a poem on her every time she gives birth to a child?- Sounds much better in Punjabi (main oda theka leya hoyaa? Oho bacche banayi jave te main ode te kavita likhda rehma?).

In 1965 Shiv won the Sahitya Akademi award for his verse-drama Loona. He married on Feb 5, 1967
His wife Aruna was a Brahmin from Kir Mangyal in district Gurdaspur. By all accounts Shiv had a happy marriage. He had two children, Meharbaan (b. Apr. 12, 1968) and Puja (b. Sep. 23, 1969) whom he loved immensely.


By 1968 he had moved to Chandigarh, but both Batala and Chandigarh became soulless in his eyes. Chandigarh brought him fame, but scathing criticism as well, Shiv replied with an article titled -My hostile critics-. Meanwhile his epilepsy got worse and he had a serious attack while at a store in Chandigarh-s section 22. In the early 70-s Shiv came to Bombay for a literary conference. In keeping with Shiv-s outrageous behaviour there is a story about his trip to Bombay as well. Part of the conference involved readings at Shanmukhananda hall. After a few people had read their work (one of whom was Meena Kumari), Shiv got on the stage and began "Almost everyone today has begun to consider themselves a poet, each and every person off the streets is writing ghazals". By the time he-d finished with his diatribe, there was not a sound in the hall. This is when he began to read -Ek kuri jeeda naam mohabbat. gum hai, gum hai...-. There wasn-t a sound when he finished either.
Shiv has been called a Bohemian. There were complaints about his drinking and some suggestions that his -friends- had him drink so he would exhibit his outrageous self. Shiv Kumar died in the 36th year of his life on May 7, 1973 in his father-in-law-s house at Kir Mangyal near Pathankot.

Shiv as the traditional poetical phenomenon was born out of the literary conjugation (Kalmi sanjog) of Amrita Pritam and Mohan Singh, to whom he appropriately dedicated his most important creation -Briha too Sultan-. Both Amrita and Mohan had personally suffered in their respective love lives on account of circumstances beyond their control. In their romanticism therefore, a personal tinge of desperation was in-evitable. Punjabi character is far more emotional, both in happiness as well as sadness, than all other peoples- of the Indian subcontinent. To succeed as a poet, therefore, one must succeed in making people cry as well as bursting into hilarious laughter with the flow of the lines. In contradiction to Amrita and Mohan, Shiv therefore, developed the most superb art of recitation. He will be long remembered, like Heer Warris Shah, for this emotional rendering of whatever he wrote. I was deeply impressed by his exposition of this vivid magic in the very first Kavita that he gave at our house - -Ki puchde ho hal fakiran da-. This ren-dering has the touch of Sehgal-s voice - -])ukhh ke Aab din bitad nahin- Shiv like Sehgal had the inborn gift of soul-touching expression. He needed words and lines and in this he had the help of his creators more than anyone else past or present. I feel that in her enthusiasm to present her -poetic-child- to the world Amrita herself became too emotional in giving an unnecessary notoriety to Shiv as a heart-throwing lover (dil-pheank ashiq.).



Any healthy child experiences love-stings like Shiv and dreams love dreams like he did, but every child cannot be a poet. In the lines that are attributed to this side of Shiv-s creation there is the show of an irksome mockery. Every effort had been made to present him as a love-torn lover; as a half living, babbling corpse of love-s treachery. True to his creators he was expounding all his life a love-lost theme, which was not, his own but was someone else-s. He was never allowed to grow up beyond this slippery, muddy stage of deception with alcohol and tobacco in his body and love-potions in his mind. But Shiv violently protested against this utter subjugation. In his -Main to Main- he says:-

-O mere sirjko
Tan de trashanhar butkaro
Tuhadi wansh wich hun bal nahin
1k swal jamna si
Jida uttar wi moran ton
Tusan sabna sen sangna si
Te jad men oodri thup nen
Mere jungle choun langna si
Taan bhuldi sabiyata men
Shaher de moran to khangna si

He had tried to find himself in his own self. Similar effort has been made again and again in -Loona-. I feel sure that as time passes on people will try to find out more of the philosophy of his life butt at the occasion of the first national meeting that is being held in London to remember Shiv.



I wish to add my own appreciation of the man who came in our life only for a few brief moments. I had not heard of him in India and met him for the first time when I went to receive him at Heathrow. I was not aware of his poetry either.
During all his stay in England I had never found him sober, but he was wonderful to his onlookers, a joke to his critics, and an enigma to himself. What I have written so far is the expression of a mixture of feelings that Shiv generated. But he had something really unique in him which would have him a place of pride among poets of the Punjab. He will be remembered long after his contemporaries would be forgotten for having brought to the Punjabi Kavita a true expression of the Punjabi cultural panorama.

Although he has written on a variety of themes, the main theme in Shiv-s Poetry is Chet, Chandni, Joban rutan, Bhalke - nah - rehna. He writes

Phul di mahek mare
Par agg di mahek na mardi.

A flower does not die only its odour disappears

That is why he wished after death to become first a star and then a second choice a flower to pervade on the earth and sky, be here day or night. A shining star gives its odour in its twinkling - the fire of love. Shiv was himself a fiery person. His laughter was tinged with fire of inner grief and showed a perpetual depression - a fiery depression. He was depressed, is no doubt.

--Main niki umren sara dard banda baetha
eadi joban rat lahi dard kenwars hor deo-

In the parts of the Siwaliks there grow wild trees of har sangar (cyctanthes- arbor - tristis). The whole tree flowers around the early hours of the morning and fully grown white - dreamy - tinged with orange flowers fall down almost in rain before daybreak. It is a wonder-ful sight to see this spread of flowers, a massacre of youthful beauty. These are picked up, wovwn into garlands and tied around hair knots by young village lassies. Bushes of chamba and chambeli have also fully grown white creamy flowers that fall in the same way, but not so spectacularly. Chambe-di-kali flower buds are more commonly attributed to chamba. I am sure Shiv as a child must have been impressed by this dramatic death of the full grown youthful flowers, dying at the height of life. This became Shiv-s ideal -

-Chambe da phul sajra naio tur paina-

He grieved to see the death of a Chamba flower -
Aj ik chambe da phul moea
Gal paona de pa ke bahin
Gora chetar chham chham roea
-Asaan te joban ruten marna
Mur jana asan bhare bharae
Hijer tere di kar prikarma.

These lines are a superb poetry as an example of delicate sensitivity in expression. He filled sadness in the refreshing dew on the fallen flowers - as chham chham roaa and confirmed his faith in the transmigration of the soul.
He was truly a poet of nature-flower-soil-death and life, threading these into a garland of laughing sadness.
-Pa tandan de thaknan
Kis lei katna
Oah nah aapna
Tan asan kis lai katna hor ji-
He wanted to go -
-Ni jinde main kal nahin rehna-
Asan kis khatar hun jina
Is miti kise chuman da phul
Kade nah ditha khiria-

He was a lover of colour and beauty but with these he wanted purity integrity and respectability. He complained of -Widwa rut- Widwa joban

Whatever personal and impersonal emotion Shiv experienced he spread these to the outside nature. His outer and inner nature became one many a time, and one waited for the other for the union.
-Marua khirna babul Ji,
Jad chetar mur aawe-

In every aspect of nature he found an image of death - a phenomena which was unique in Shiv. He said -

-Main chaonda haan aaj da gora din
Aanaei maot na mar jae-

No other poet before him, to my knowledge, was so much glamorised by the phenomenon of death as Shiv was. As Shiv was, death truly is a gift that is given to a man at birth and that is not an end, but is a milestone on the journey from beyond to beyond. I see Shiv walking on this path.
-Raat chanani main turan-

He will continue to walk and we will continue to see him shining as a star at nightfall and touch him, smell him, enjoy him as a flower, like the chambe da phul -he will be seen again and again dying on the morning after morning. To him death seems more real then life. No one sees the flower coming into life, but what we see is only the death of the living. But death also is not the end.

-Nahen sade tan koi rog awalra
Nahan sadi oomsr aakhiri
Babul ji
Aasan mukh da suraj
Dubde tak mur aonna
He will come back again on the horizon before sunset to live through the night.

I am waiting for that moment when Shiv, like Lord Shiv Ji will recreate himself out of the pieces and bits that he has left for all of us in the form of his poetry - the immortal images of his mortal frame.

-Zindgi us ke liye ik maut thi
Who pa gaya hai zindagi dar asal mar jane ke baad.-


 

shergillsonline

~~~Shergill Jamsheria~~~
Warris Shah
Warris Shah is to Punjabi poetry what Chaucer was to English - the pulse beat of its people. He turned poetry into Punjabi and Punjabi into poetry. His chief contribution was the creation of the immortal Heer, the epic poem of love of Heer and Ranjha, sung by the

people of Punjab in the same style and syntax without any variation since the time it was completed and composed in 1776 during the 8th invasion of Ahmed Shah Abdali. Warris Shah was 36 at that time. He lived to see his Heer sung for nearly a quarter of a century. Enthralling generations of Punjabi poets, opera writers and listeners, Warris Shah is a literary calossus who bestrode the literary scene of Punjab as no other poet did after Farid. With Warris Shah begins the modern period in Punjabi poetry. Addressing Warris Shah, Amrita Pritam, the prima donna of Punjabi poetry today, wrote after the partition holocaust: "If the tragedy of one Heer could make you cry, what would have happened if you were alive in 1947 when a million Heers were raped in the same land".

Who is this Warris Shah whom the poets of Punjab have beckoned for the last 200 years? Why is he a household name in the subcontinent? If Punjabi poetry is to be conceived as a story of moral and spiritual values, Warris Shah occupies the same place as Milton did in English literature and Walt Whitman did in American literature. Heer-Ranjha is both history and poetry. As history it is unread; as poetry it is exquisite. Bulle Shah made these 600 stanzas of Heer immortal by singing it in Kaafi style. Heer has been sung in a dozen styles but the most lyrical is Kaafi. It is said, when it was first sung in Soviet Union people went wild in ecstasy. The Urdu poet Sauda in one of his couplets says,
Suna jo raat woh qissa HeerRanjha ka
To ahl - dard ko Punjabiyon ne loot liya

(Last night when I heard the story of Heer Ranjha I felt that the Punjabis took away my heart).
Warris lived through the invasions of Nadir Shah (1739) and Ahmed Shah (1761). There are references in his Heer about these invasions and the devastation they wrought in Punjab: .
Khade peeta lahe da
Baki Ahmed Shahe da
(Whatever you eat is yours, the rest belongs to Ahmed Shah)

Warris Shah-s Heer also amply demonstrates that though the people of Punjab were divided into various religious sects, they were nevertheless secular in outlook and respected each other-s religion.
Warris Shah describes Punjab as a fertile country with fields of mustard and corn yielding a rich crop. The rulers of Punjab were said to be corrupt and commited atrocities, extorted revenues mercilessly from innocent people. That brought the Hindus and Muslims closer to each other. The foreign invasions further cemented their ties and they developed remarkable cordiality and amity. There are also stray references to the shawls of Lahore and Kashmir, the Phulkaris of Multan, the silken Lehngas and the Tahmads of Takht Hazara, the home town of Ranjha in district Sargodha, now in Pakistan. There was enough milk and honey in Punjab as described in Heer, and the rivers of Punjab have been referred to very evocatively.
More than the official or the formal historical account, Warris Shah-s epic can be easily regarded as an authentic source of the history of Punjab. But more than that, Warris Shah is the historian of the heart of his people.
As poetry, the story of Heer Ranjha is the food of every Punjabi. If wheat is his staple food to eat, Heer is his spiritual food. It touches his soul. Every Punjabi youth remembers it by heart and sings it with an abandon unknown to other regions.
Highest poetry, they say, must conform to the tenets of music. judged from that standpoint, Heer occupies a very high position in the development of Punjabi poetry. After the hymns of. Baba Farid, it is the poetry of Warris Shah and Bulle Shah which inspired the Punjabis to revolt against the twin curse of absentee landlordism and foreign invasions.

Heer-Ranjha is a qissa, a tale, a romance based on Persian Masnavi. Through the voice of Heer Ranjha, Warris Shah has become the spokesman of the Punjabi mind. It must, however, be remembered that the first Heer in Punjabi was written by a poet called Damodar who had not given it a tragic ending. Even Maqbul, the early 18th century Punjabi poet, followed Damodar who sent the united lovers Heer and Ranjha to a Haj pilgrimmage to Mecca. It is only Warris Shah who gave the epic a tragic ending. Since tragedy appeals more to the human mind, the epic became not merely popular but immortal.
Warris Shah died in 1790, at the age of 60. It was his dream to see Punjab free from foreign invasions. Had he lived another ten years, he would have seen his dream come true when Ranjit Singh chased out Zaman Shah of Kabul beyond Jhelum river, never to return. However, he did come back to India but only as a helpless seeker of asylum which the generous Maharaja granted him in Lahore




 

shergillsonline

~~~Shergill Jamsheria~~~

Jaswant Sandila

Jaswant Sandila famous singer in Punjabi cultural song and Literary. His was born on 20 April 1953 in Amritsar in village Fateh Badh. His father's name was Sadhu Singh and mother was Bachint Kaur. Jaswant Sandila started singing in 1964. Although he did not had enough higher education, but that did not became any obstacle in his professional life. He married with Parmjeet Kaur, and was father of two sons.
Jaswant initially started working for government job and stayed with it for a long time. Since his childhood he had a passion for singing and a hobby for writing songs.


In his college time, he used to sing songs his class fellow. He performed Bhangra in collage festivals and actively took part in various cultural activities.


Jaswant got initial guidance from his master Late of “Bakar Hussain” and “Sajjan Rai Kotti”. His first song “ADHI RAAT TAK MEIN PARDI” voiced by Harcharn Grewal and seema is still a very famous song in Punjab. Among other songs in his famous collections as
“TERA PICCHA JATTIA NE GHAR CHADIA”
“IK KURI KOONJH WARGI”
“MUNDYIA NU SANGAT KHARAB MARDI”
“JADO MERA LUCK HILDA” etc to name few.



Many Punjabi singer say his song are similar to K. DEEP, JAGMOHAN KAUR, A.S KANG, SURINDER SHINDA, KULDEEP MANAK, SAIDA BAANO, PARMINDER SANDHU, KAMALJIT NEERU.


Sandila wrote aprroximately 150 songs in his life which were sung and voiced by different punjabi singers. He himself sang approximately 90 of his own songs. Few of his famous punjabi duet songs are "PALLE PAI GAYA AMLI” “DHOLAN BAIKADRA” “NALE CHOR NALE CHATRIAYIA” “SADHI HOI MITRAN DEE” “CHADNA SHEHAR LUDHIANA” etc.


He recorded his first duet song with Parminder Sandhu “AUKHI HO JU KANDH TAPP NEE” in 1982. Then his some solo cassettes in market for expel “KURHI DIL LYE GAYE”, “DIL TA HATH DHARKE” and “ISHQ DEE KHED”. Jaswant also performed for radio during 1985 and also for T.V in 1989.



Many of his duets songs were along with Parminder Sandhu and with Kuldeep Kaur.


His first cassette “KIVEN JAVA TENU BHUL” was directed by Rimpy Ahuja and Hardeep Deepi. Music director was Pushpinder Singh from Sukh Mann cassette Company and lyrics were his own, Jaswant Sandila along with Amarjit Bagli, Pamma kotpuria, Heera Pammapuria.


He performed many stage show in Canada and England. He was awarded may awards in abroad and in punjab.
 

lipgloss

Member
Re: ~~~ Kuch Mahan Gayak Te Ona Da Picho

Man absolutely love your posts thank you so much! it is hard to find any type of info on punajbi singers so this is areal treat. The thin about chamkila is really sad, that just does not make any sense to me, why would kill somebody over song? the thing that is the most sad is that Amarjoyt was pregnant! i would read more of your posts could you do one on Jagmohan kaur and Ranjit kaur?
 
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