Thirty five years after his death and years of conjecture over the same, the life and times of the slain Punjabi folk icon Amar Singh Chamkila, famously called the ‘Elvis of Punjab’, are back under the spotlight.From 1979 to 1988, Chamkila ruled the music landscape in Punjab with songs that were a commentary on village life, drug abuse, guns, extra marital affairs, dowry, alcoholism and matters of Punjabi masculinity among others. This wasn’t like the spot on, in tune, polished folk of Gurdas Mann or the kind of gentle folk that Surinder Kaur and Asa Singh Mastana were propagating in the state and among the diaspora.AdvertisementThese songs sounded gravelly and uninhibited. But what was spot on was Chamkila’s raw yet very in tune voice. Many of Chamkila’s songs comprised coarse lyrics, mostly written by him. These were often bawdy and left little to imagination. At the time, many of his detractors denounced him for songs that were boorish and full of double entendre. But the numerous l...
