Surinder Kaur

Surinder Kaur was born on 25 November 1929 to a Punjabi Sikh family in Lahore, the capital of the Punjab in British India. She was influenced by Renu Rajan, a prominent figure in Punjabi folk music. == Career ==

Surinder Kaur made her professional debut with a live performance on Lahore Radio in August 1943, Following the Partition of India in 1947, Kaur and her parents relocated to Ghaziabad, Delhi. In 1948, she married Professor Joginder Singh Sodhi, a lecturer in Punjabi literature at Delhi University. ==Awards and recognition==

• Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Punjabi Folk Music in 1984, by the Sangeet Natak Academi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance and Theatre, • The Millennium Punjabi Singer award, • Padma Shri award in 2006 for her contribution in Arts. • The Guru Nanak Dev University conferred on her a doctorate degree in the year 2002. ==Illness and death==

Towards the later part of her life, wanting to get close to her mitti (her soil), Surinder Kaur settled in Panchkula in 2004, with an aim to construct a house in Zirakpur, near Chandigarh. Subsequently, on 22 December 2005, she suffered a heart attack and was admitted to General Hospital, Panchkula. Upon her death, the Prime minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh described her as "the nightingale of Punjab", and "a legend in Punjabi folk music and popular music and a trend-setter in Punjabi melody." and added, "I hope that her immortal voice will motivate other artists to practice the right Punjabi folk music tradition". ==Legacy==

A Doordarshan documentary titled, Punjab Di Koyal (Nightingale of Punjab), on the life and works of Surinder Kaur was released in 2006. It later won the Doordarshan National Award. ==See also==