Amar Singh Chamkila

 
Amar Singh Chamkila (Punjabi: ਅਮਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਚਮਕੀਲਾ) (July 21, 1960 – March 8, 1988) was a high-profile Punjabi singer, songwriter, and musician. He is widely touted as the most influential Punjabi folk singer of all time. This is an incredible feat as Chamkila sang for less than a decade. He is also regarded as one of the greatest Punjabi folk live stage performers. In his heyday, he was known to do three stage performances in a single day.


Amar Singh Chamkila was born as Dunni Ram on July 21, 1960 in the village of Dugri near Ludhiana, Punjab, India. He was born into a poor family and was from the Chamar caste. The youngest child of Kartar Kaur and Hari Singh, he was educated at Gujar Khan Primary School in Dugri. His aspirations of becoming an electrician were unfulfilled and he found work at a Ludhiana cloth mill.
With a natural aptitude for music, he learned to play the harmonium and dholki. Punjabi folk musician Surinder Shinda has said that in 1978, Chamkila approached him for the first time on a bicycle. When Shinda heard the 18-year-old Chamkila sing, he had finally found the protege that he had been looking for. Chamkila would go onto play alongside Punjabi folk artists such as K. Deep, Mohammad Saddiq and Surinder Shinda. He wrote several songs for Shinda and accompanied him as a member of his entourage before deciding to pursue a solo career. It is rumored that Chamkila was happy enough writing songs, but he wasn't earning enough money to look after his family, so had to start singing.
The appeal of Chamkila's music prominently lay in both the content of his lyrics and the delivery of those lyrics. The majority of Chamkila's songs were about extra-marital or other taboo relationships. Chamkila came under frequent criticism citing his work as offensive.
Chamkila had introduced the paradigm of modern day relationships into Punjabi folk music which had until then, restricted itself to singing about legendary heroes, warriors and lovers from Punjabi folk-tales. His energetic singing style and the provocative nature of his lyrics are often considered to be the reason for his colossal success.
Having arrived to perform in the village of Mehsampur, Punjab, both Chamkila and Amarjot were gunned down by AK47'S alongside Gill and other group members as they exited their vehicle on March 8, 1988 at approximately 2 o'clock. A gang of unknown youths shot several rounds fatally wounding the couple and other members of the entourage. The driver got away and ran for his life and saw the police coming towards him in a jeep, Chamkila's driver told the police commissioner what had happened as they got near the community well in Mehsopur where Chamkila was supposed to perform the disguised youths fled and the people of the village who had come to attend the Akhara bravely chased them, but they got away, the gun fire could be heard in the neighboring village of Darapur. Chamkila was lying in the hay stack near the well with shots fire on his chest.