Chamkila's Biography
Chamkila was originally known as DUNNI RAM and was born
on July 21st 1961 in DUGRI in LUDIHANA his fathers name was HARI RAM. Chamkila
was from a poor family and lived in great poverty!
He had a family of one brother and two sisters whom were older than him!
Chamkila was the youngest out of the family! His mothers name was KARTAAR KAUR
who sadly passed away when chamkila was a young child. His older sisters and
father used to take care of him.
Chamkila studied in the pind school called GUZAR KAN PRIMARY SCHOOL in DUGRI, Chamkila always wanted to become an electrician and wanted to work for the government as an electrician but due to family difficulties he was forced out of education and forced to work in Ludhiana in a cloth mill.
By the time Chamkila was 10 he had one of his first songs sang by NARINDER
BIBA AND SURINDER SHARMA, Chamkila was over the moon as one of Punjab's top
artists were to sing a song with lyrics by Chamkila!
The song was about a Jeth and Parjaie! and titled "MERA JETH DA NA BOLIER
RUBA PARAKA ME 5 GOAHA CUBIER CHAR EA"
Another one of his first songs which was a hit in the 70's in Punjab was
about an electrician going to a womans house and fixing a light switch as she
got a shock from it! The track was entitled "PHAI GALTH CONNECTION JOR GAYA
MERA SHACK CASURTHI MARIE".
In the majority of Chamkila's songs he had a lot of lyrics to do with electric
such as shock and connection etc.. This is due to the fact he wanted to become
an electrican!
By the age of 15 he had a number of songs which famous punjabi folk singers had sung such as Shinda, Parminder Sandhu, Narinder Biba, Kulie Ram, Ramesh, Bibi Tara and Sohan Lal, Surinder Sonia, Miss Usha, Seetal Singh Seetal, A. S Konner and many other folk singers!
The name Chamkila is said to have been given to him by a close friend, another lyrics writer S.S.Azad but this is not true. The name Chamkila comes from the name Rangila whom used to be a folk singer that Chamkila admired greatly. Chamkila came 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 Shinda regularly and it was on Shinda's stage that Chamkila made his mark. During intervals Shinda would let Chamkila sing on his stage! The people loved him! Chamkila wrote 32 songs for Shinda and Sonia such as "MAI DIGIE TILAK KIER" and "VEJA VEJA MUNDA KAR DA".
Chamkila and Surinder Sonia released their first record with hits such as "TUKOWA TE TUKOWA KARKIER" and KURTI SAT RANG DI" alongside "BABU GUM HO-GAYA"! These were released in 1979.
Punjabi Folk fans loved Chamkila's style of singing and loved everything about him! He had a very charismatic personality, on stage who would touch everyones soul. 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 Usha. However this was only on stage he did not release a single recording with her.
By late 1980 he heard a famous female singer called Amarjyot who sang with Manak!. he approached her and made her his permanent singing partner to provide the female vocals to his songs.
At the time he ganged up with Amarjyot, Chamkila was married. This
partnership with Amarjyot lead to a break up of his marriage in December of
1982.
The first LP record that he took out with Amarjyot was "LACK MERA CHACH
VARGA" which included the tracks "DEORA TAVITA WALIEA" and a song
written by Pali Dethawalia entitled "Chack Lo Drivero", however
Chamkilla altered the lyrics to suit his style of showmanship.
People began to become offended by the fact Chamkila was of a CHAMAAR background and Amarjyot was a THARKAN (a higher caste, in many peoples eyes).
By 1984 Chamkila and Amarjyot were in high demand and were producing hit LP after LP with new songs which were 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! At the time Chamkila did not take these seriously and continued writing more songs and producing more LP's.
In the early 80's he toured the world which included countries such as, USA, Canada, Dubai and Bahrain. The people loved his style of singing that he was getting booked for weddings, Akhand Path's, and many other functions to perform. He would charge 4000rps (all the other singers such as Manak charged 2000-3000rps). Accompanying Chamkila on stage would be a comedian (Tukuan or Mano) who would do impressions of Mehal Mittal.
His shows lasted about 2-3 hours and every show began with 4-5 religious
songs. Chamkila used to test out his songs in his shows before he recorded them.
He would watch very carefully to see how the audience reacted to anything new.
Chamkila used to say on his stage that he wanted all his songs to be hits. He
appreciated that fans who bought his records worked hard to earn 20rps to buy
his LP's. So he ensured his recordings were to be hits before he went into the
studio to record.
Chamkila did not like people dancing to his songs, he liked it so everyone sat down and appreciated his material, to make up for it the last half hour of his show he sang boliyan where people would dance.
Chamkila had a stage policy in that he never took alcohol or any drugs when performing, he had this natural voice which can never be matched. Amarjyot also had a unique high-pitched voice, which also can't be matched in today's society. Both were very gifted.
By the time Chamkila had several LP's released he became very wealthy and would drive in flashy cars, he also invested much of his money in doing up his house in Dugri.
In the little spare time Chamkila had he spent writing new songs and began to spend a lot of time worshipping God. Chamkila used to like eating Saag with loads of Makhan in it.
On stage Chamkila would wear a tumba and Amarjoyt would always wear a glittery suit. On most shows he would wear a matching tumba with Amarjyots suit. He took his tumbi with him on every show without fail.
Chamkila never intended to release cassettes as he produced only EP or LP's. Cassettes were only released much later on to cope with the high demands. In HMV's history 3 of Chamkila LP records are still the highest selling records that were ever produced by a punjabi singer. No singer has matched the figures yet!.
His religious songs became number 1 hits. Chamkila however, only wrote a few religious songs himself. Most of them he bought from other writers. Again Chamkila altered some of the lyrics in the religious songs to make them suit his singing style.
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 the songs such as "Babu Sada Gum Ho Gaya", "Mar Le Horr Try", "Ran Ladli Rakho". This was done so as to tell all the people sending him hate mail "Look I've changed I do not sing vulgar songs any more".
The public was still unhappy and wanted chamkila to stop singing altogether. Chamkila started to write and sing songs which were very serious and deeply touching such as "DOKHA NE KAMIE DA", "GAL KAR KE NO HUSE DA", "RAB CHARKA KUTIER NIE JINDIER TERA", "DHEE MAR JA VIER BADKAR LOCKO", "EK VAARI KE DIER MENU MA", "JAT DI DUSHMANI", "AKHAIN DE MAR BURI" and many more.
At the Mohan Singh Mela In 1986 chamkila won the crowd by singing two songs titled " BABA TERA NANKAANA" and "DHEE MAR JA VIER BADKAR LOCKO". The people loved the style and the lyrics that Chamkila sung.
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 Tupac Shakur of Punjabi Folk…
The blame was given on terrorists. A Curfew order took place when Chamkila was killed and riots between gangs broke out.
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 ?!?!?
….perhaps his meteoric rise
Chamkila's music will always be evergreen, Chamkila has left such a big hole in punjabi music which no singer can ever fill. Many people have tried to copy Chamkila such as Amar Arshi, Avtaar Chamak, Chamak Chamkila, Suck Chamkila, Tufaan and many other singers but the style and the way Chamkila sang can never be copied.
Chamkila died on the 8th March 1988. He had over 200 songs which he never sang or recorded. Before his exit from our world he had plans in the pipeline for a religoius recording dedicated to Guru Ravi Dass Ji entitled "Pundit Ji Puthier Gaya". Also a kaylian style record etitled "Kach Dia Mundra"
Every year in Chamkils's pind a MUTHI has been made for him and a mela is held. Be it a wedding function or social function chamkila's music will always will be heard!
Thanks for taking your time to read about Chamkila's History (The King Of Tumbi)
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