The unsolved assassination of Amar Singh Chamkila: “The Elvis of Punjab”
Described by revered Indian film composer Amit Trivedi as ‘The Elvis of Punjab’ and cited by many Punjabi musicians as a significant musical influence, Amar Singh Chamkila was a hero of the region’s music scene. Pushing the boundaries of the style’s traditional iteration, his songs about extra-marital relationships, drinking, drug use, and male fury make him more than deserving of being compared to ‘The King of Rock and Roll’, Elvis Presley.
Living a storied life, tragically, Chamkila’s rise was cut short when he and his wife, Amarjot, were killed alongside two members of their band in Mehsampur, India, in March 1988, in an assassination that remains unsolved. Aged just 27, it’s demonstrative of the power of his work that Chamkila is hailed as one of the finest musicians in Punjabi music history. A monumental artist and performer, notably, his monthly bookings would regularly outnumber the days in a month, denoting just how broad his reach was.
Owning a lifelong grasp of music, Chamkila was a moderniser. He was heavily influenced by the village life he grew up in but fused it with traditional rock ‘n’ roll hedonistic themes that grabbed the attention of a new, youthful generation. Naturally, given the area and India’s profoundly religious status, he quickly earned a level of notoriety, with conservatives calling him obscene. However, his fans, of which there were many, defended Chamkila to the hills, maintaining that his work was nothing but a truthful and intelligent depiction of Punjabi culture and society.
Chamkila released a host of celebrated hits, including ‘Pehle Lalkare Naal’ and more devotional numbers such as ‘Talwar Main Kalgidhar Di’ and ‘Baba Tera Nankana’. Famously, he wrote the ubiquitous song ‘Jatt Di Dushmani’, which he never captured in the studio. Though never put to tape, the song’s power continues to resonate with many popular Punjabi artists having released their own versions.
Amar Singh Chamkila was born as Dhanni Ram on July 21st, 1960, into a Ravidasia SikhChamar community family in the Dugri village near Ludhiana. Showing just how far he came in his short life; initially, Chamkila aspired to become an electrician, but that was soon put to bed when he found work in a cloth mill.
Luckily, Chamkila’s natural musical talent would give him the path to stardom and a way out of factory work. A master of the harmonium and hand drum, the dholki, the musician would continue to refine his ability before he was presented with an opportunity too good to spurn. In 1978, he and his best friend, Kuldeep Paras, approached the legendary Punjabi singer Surinder Shinda for the first time, keenly wanting to show off their skills.
Chamkila was just 18 at the time, and in an instant after hearing him sing, Shinda was in no doubt that this was the protégé he’d been searching for. The convergence Chamkila needed, his friendship and work with Shinda would open many doors and see him collaborate with established folk artists such as Mohammad Sadiq, K. Deep and Shinda himself. Chamkila also wrote several songs for Shinda and cut his teeth in his entourage before deciding the time was right to go solo.
It was then that Dhanni Ram adopted the stage name Amar Singh Chamkila, and the scene was set for his meteoric rise. Aptly, Chamkila in Punjabi means the “one that glitters”, a label that almost predicted his destiny. The first act of his new guise was collaborating with female vocalist Surinder Sonia, who he had previously worked with under Shinda.
In a manifestation of the personal politics inherent to the music industry, Sonia felt increasingly sidelined by Shinda after he took Gulshan Komal on a tour in Canada. Yet, her work with Chamkila would be much more momentous than anything she’d done before. Sonia played an instrumental role in getting him to record his debut album, after which the pair recorded eight duets and released the album Take Te Takua in 1980. The lyrics on the album were praised for their sharpness, and the LP became a hit across Punjab.
Things for Chamkila and Sonia wouldn’t last long, however. Later that year, Chamkila felt he was vastly underpaid by her manager, who just so happened to be Sonia’s husband, and elected to go it alone, forming a new group of his own making. During this period, he had short-lived musical partnerships with Amar Noorie and Miss Usha Kiran.
At the time, Chamkila struggled to find a proper long-term co-vocalist to record songs with until his peer from the Punjabi scene, Kuldeep Manak, pointed him in the direction of Amarjot Kaur, who had worked with him infrequently and featured on his latest album.
Interestingly, much of Amarjot Kaur’s life remains a mystery, with it claimed that she left a marriage to pursue her dream of becoming a singer. Shortly after meeting, Kaur became Chamkila’s permanent musical partner, delivering the female vocals for his duets on the majority of originals that he wrote until his death. As their relationship grew both professionally and romantically, the pair were married in 1983, further cementing the idea that two creative souls had wandered onto the same path.
Hitting their stride creatively, this verve was tangible and lapped up by listeners. Not only did Chamkila and Amarjot become icons in the Punjab, but they also became international stars, with the global Punjabi community taking notice. Gulzar Singh Shaunki’s biography of Chamkila, Awaz Mardi Nahin, reports that at his peak, Chamkila performed a remarkable 366 shows in 365 days.
However, things would end tragically for the couple. Arriving in Mehsampur on March 8th, 1988, around 2pm before a show, Chamkila and Amarjot were gunned down as they exited their vehicle. Reportedly, a gang of motorcyclists fired multiple rounds, fatally wounding the couple and two others in their entourage. No arrests were ever made in connection to the murders, and the case has never been solved. Some claim it was Sikh militants, but it’s a murky topic where the truth stays unclear and will probably always remain so.
“I got out of the car and started walking with my dhol, and behind me this 6ft-tall man opened up on the car with his AK-47,” remembered dholak player Lal Chand during an interview with Mint Lounge in 2018. Chand had been part of Chamkila’s band since 1985. The drummer also recalled dropping his instrument to run towards the fields, looking back to see the man opening his gun into Amarjot and Chamkila leaning out to catch her but being hit by a bullet in the chest instead.
Chand continued: “They told one of the musicians, Harjit Singh Gill, to run. Said they’d shoot him if he turned around. He started crying and begging for his life so they shot him in the chest.”
For context, the 1980s was not a peaceful time for the Punjab. Sikh separatist insurgents, as part of the Khalistan movement, were attempting to create a homeland for their religion by establishing an ethnoreligious sovereign state called Khalistan in the Punjab. This meant that assassinations and bombings were a regular part of life during Chamkila’s era.
On the other hand, the Punjab police were heavy-handed in their response to the Khalistan movement, and a well-documented breakdown of law and order in the state occurred. Crime rates rose, with the movement used by some as a cover for personal vendettas and an assortment of criminal endeavours. For this reason, some reports have claimed that it was Sikh separatists objecting to Chamkila’s lyrics that murdered him.
However, there are three other theories that follow the story, which range from alleged honour killings to legal involvement. Other theories claim that a rival musician, threatened by Chamkila and Amarjot’s success, paid for a hit. However, no such evidence has ever come to light regarding any of the supposed theories, further clouding the case in mystery.
