Surinder Kaur
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Surinder Kaur (November 25, 1929 – June 15, 2006 in Lahore, British India) is an Indian singer and songwriter. She sang mainly Punjabi (folk)-songs, but she also sang some Hindi movie songs.
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[edit] Early life and education
At the age of 12, she and older sister Parkash together studied classical music under Muslim master Inayat Husain and Hindu master Pandit Mani Parshad, ultimately conquering the complexities of the complete Indian musical scale with a command virtually unmatched by their rivals.
[edit] Recording and perfomance history
Kaur made her professional debut on Radio Lahore in August 1943, and the following year she and Parkash cut their first duet, "Maavan Te Teeyan Ral Baithiyaan," for the HMV label, emerging as superstars across the Indian subcontinent.
She recorded her first song in 1943, which se sang with her elder sister Prakash Kaur. Following Punjab's 1947 partition, Kaur and her parents relocated to Delhi, later settling in Bombay. There she began working as a film industry playback singer, and for the 1949 film Shaheed recorded one of her most memorable hits, "Badnam Na Ho Jaye Mohabbat Ka Fasaana."
In all Kaur recorded more than 2,000 songs, among them duets with Asa Singh Mastana, Harcharan Grewel, Rangilla Jatt, and Didar Sandhu. Although her life and collaboration with Sodhi was cut short upon the educator's death in 1975, she continued the family's creative tradition via duets with their daughter Dolly Guleria and granddaughter Sunaina, culminating in the 1995 LP The Three Generations.
[edit] Marriage
Upon returning to Delhi in 1942, Kaur married Joginder Singh Sodhi, a university literature professor who guided her career in the decades to follow. "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 Guari Aai Raat," "Lathe Di Chadar," "Shonkan Mele Di," and "Gori Diyan Jhanjran Sarke-Sarke Jandiye Mutiare" -- they also served as the public face of the Indian People's Theatre Association, an arm of the Indian Communist party, spreading messages of peace and love to the most remote villages of East Punjab.
[edit] Illness and death
Surinder Kaur had been ailing since December 22 last year when she suffered a heart stroke and was admitted to General Hospital in Panchkula. Later, however, she looked up and personally went to Delhi to receive the coveted Padma Shri. 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.
The Nightingale of Punjab sings no more. In 2006 a prolonged illness prompted Kaur to seek treatment in the U.S. -- she died in a New Jersey hospital on June 15 at the age of 77.
