Renowned Punjabi singer ::: Gurmeet Bawa ::: passes away at 77

Punjabi singer Gurmeet Bawa passed away here on Sunday.She had not been keeping well for some time. Her health deteriorated recently and she was admitted to a private hospital here where she died on Sunday morning.

Bawa was known for her long ‘hek’ that she could hold for about 45 seconds. She was one of the singers known for singing ‘Jugni’ after Alam Lohar and was the first Punjabi female singer to sing on Doordarshan.

She was given the State Award by the Punjab government in 1991, Sangeet Puraskar by the Punjab Natak Akademi, the national Devi Ahilya Award by the Madhya Pradesh government in 2002 and the Shiromani Gayika Award by the Punjabi Language Department in 2008.

People from music and art background mourned her passing away.The cremation will take place on Monday.Her body has been kept at her house on Fatehgarh Churriyan road here. For the past four days, she had been admitted to a private hospital. Her body was brought home from the hospital on Sunday morning.

She is survived by her younger daughter Glory, also a folk singer, youngest daughter Mishri, who is mentally challenged, and husband Kirpal Singh, who retired as a government teacher and is an authority on Persian literature.

A decorated folk singer, she was considered the nightingale of Punjabi folk singing and was bracketed with legends of yore Parkash Kaur and Surinder Kaur. She had also received the presidential citation.

According to family and friends, she had pined away after her elder daughter Lachi Bawa died of cancer in February 2020. Lachi, also a folk singer, was pursuing doctorate in Sufi singing. Gurmeet had not been keeping well since and had attended a meeting at Virsa Vihar in September where the assembled artiste fraternity had found her pale and weak.