Nonagenarian Gurmat Sangeet legend does city proud

Nitin Jain
Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, January 28

A nonagenarian Gurmat Sangeet legend has done Ludhiana proud. Prof Kartar Singh, 92, has been awarded Padma Shri for his immense contribution to the field of art.

Among the five recipients of the fourth highest civilian award from Punjab and second from the maximum city of Punjab on the occasion of Republic Day, this Ludhiana native has been awarded several prestigious honours for his contribution to Gurbani, which he has been practising since the age of 13 and has specialised in the popular classical music form for the Sikhs in the past.

“I am on Cloud 9 and grateful to the almighty for bestowing upon me this highest civilian honour,” the proud recipient of the Padma Shri told The Tribune here on Thursday.

Singh is one of the “Gurmat Sangeet” legends, who pursued his career in teaching music and retired as head of department of music (vocal and instruments) from Guru Nanak Girls College in Ludhiana. Presently, he was working as the director of the Gurmat Sangeet Academy in Anandpur Sahib, run by the SGPC. Expressing gratitude towards the government for recognising his services, the Pakistan-born classical singing legend still feels himself as a student, who is eager to learn. “Music is meditation and one has to meditate rigorously, besides doing hard work to learn and practise it,” the Gurbani singer said.

The Union Government had awarded him the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and Tagore Ratna Award for Music. He is also the recipient of the Punjab Government’s Shiromani Ragi Award, and Punjabi University’s Gurmat Sangeet Senior fellowship. He was also conferred Sikh Lifetime Achievement Award in London (UK) on October 9, 2011, and was also nominated to the Top 100 Global Sikhs by the Sikh Directory in the United Kingdom.

One of the two legends from Punjab, who performed during the Commonwealth Games held at New Delhi in 2010, Singh’s contribution to “Gurmat Sangeet” had also been recognised by the SGPC, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University in Jammu and Kashmir and Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar.

Singh also has five books, with a total of over 40,000 copies, on “Gurmat Sangeet”, published by the SGPC, to his credit, while his two other books were under publication.

Born at Ghummanke village in Lahore (Pakistan) on April 3, 1928, Singh had done graduation and post-graduation in music (vocal and instrumental) from Panjab University, Chandigarh.

After beginning his career as a music lecturer (vocal and instrumental) at the Malwa Central College of Education in Ludhiana from 1968 to 1971, he served as music head of the Department from 1971 to 1988. Later, he worked as music lecturer, bursar and registrar at Guru Nanak Girls College here till 1997. He also served as examiner (up to the PG classes) for Panjab University, Guru Nanak Dev University, Punjabi University, PSEB Mohali and Pracheen Kala Kendra in Chandigarh.

Singh was assigned to restart “Gurbani kirtan” in prescribed ragas with traditional musical instruments in the Golden Temple on March 6, 2006. His many pupils are serving “kirtan sewa” with “tanti saazas” as “ragi jathas” and accompanying artistes at Harmandir Sahib and other prominent gurdwaras in India and abroad. Also, several of his students are teaching music and “Gurmat Sangeet” in various institutions and universities.

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