Surinder Kaur

Who was Surinder Kaur?

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 1948-1952.

In an illustrious 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.