Baba Tera Nankana

[SSM]

oh regardless of some of the dodgy stuff he sang it was all such great stuff

The not to dodgy stuff had so much meaning to it, so much depth, ahhh I miss the guy not that I ever knew him

[>Bikramjit Singh<]

His dharmik geets are probably the best by any Punjabi singer. The dodgy stuff let him down though. I think he also had a song 'talwar main kalgidhar di hai' That was also a good song

[SSM]

oh wow that was great, i dont know all the lyrics but it went something like

'talwar mein kalgidhar di haan

mein nahin kisseh tau dardi haa

menhu Guru Ji jadon chalondai neh mein chun chun vaeri maar di haa'.

cud be wrong, top of head guess

I think it was abt two of Guru Ji's weapons having a convo. But I think everyone needs to listen to it, :T:

[Jeevan]

A Brief BiographyChamkila 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 Dat Khol

MitraLallu Kare KawallianDhoka Nahin KamaidaLeyja Kitte DoorGabroo

Holan DePehle Lalkare Naal Main Dar GaiHik Uteh Soja VeRab Tanu Munda

DeveJija Lak MinleSas Godeh Thale Lai LayiKal Bhanven Jind Kad

LayeenSharbat Vaangu Ghut BharlaKee Jor Garibaan DaVadhaiyaan Jetha

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?