Punjabi Folk & Sufi Singer List.

Punjabi Folk & Sufi Songs

Folk Punjab is a project to collect folk and sufi music of Punjab. Please note that this is not yet another music website, it's a sincere effort to give our folk music the place it deserves. Over the years, Folk Punjab has grown to include other forms of the Punjabi folklore as well. We now have sections on proverbs & riddles as well. Other than that, two research-oriented sections are also maintained: a bibliography of books about Punjab's culture, language, and literature; and an encyclopedia about all things Punjab. All the Punjabi songs on this website can be downloaded as mp3 or can be played online. We also try to provide lyrics and translation with the songs.

Punjabi Folk Singers

Abida Parveen

Abida Parveen (born 1954) is a Pakistani singer and one of the foremost exponents of Sufi music. She sings mainly ghazals, Urdu love songs, and her forte, Kafis, a solo genre accompanied by percussion and harmonium, using a repertoire of songs by Sufi poets. Abida Parveen sings in Urdu, Sindhi, Seraiki, Punjabi and Persian, and together with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is considered one of the finest Sufi vocalists of the modern era.

Aashiq Jatt

Aashiq Jatt was a Punjabi singer known for his renditions of the folk legends of Punjab. He is still remember for his marvelous compositions of the legends of Sohni Mahiwal, Mirza SahibaN, Dhol Sammi, adn Dulla Bhatti.

Abrar ul Haq

Abrar-ul-Haq is a Pakistani pop, bhangra and folk singer born in Narowal, Punjab. Before becoming a singer, he was a lecturer of geography at the Aitchison College in Lahore.

Alam Lohar

Alam Lohar was born in the small village of Aach Goach outside Gujrat, Punjab, into a family of blacksmiths. He was gifted with a melodious voice and began singing as a child. Strongly attracted to music, he took little interest in his studies and dropped out of school to pursue a singing career, much to the dismay of his father, until Malik Shah, his spiritual guide, intervened on his behalf. Once he achieved the freedom to sing, Alam Lohar developed a new style of singing the Punjabi warm, an epic or folk tale. He is famous for his rendition of Waris Shah’s Heer, which he has memorized in 36 styles and forms. He recorded his first album at the age of 13 and has outsold all other singers in Pakistan, with 5,000 albums to his credit. Alam Lohar organized a full-fledged theatre with a complete orchestra. His troupe toured all of Punjab for religious and seasonal festivals. He also travelled several times to the United Kingdom at his own expense to perform for Pakistanis living overseas, who were delighted by his colourful clothes and thrilling voice, traditional chimta in hand.

Allah Ditta Lonay Wala

I know Allah Ditta Lonay Wala personally he is my best friend… he belongs to Lonewala near Faisalabad pakistan and he lives now in chinniot… he has two daughter and three sons… and nadeem abbas his son is also a famous singer, he has spend his lives in poverty… mostly he sings songs by lyricists hayat bhutti and abad tameemi. He started to sing in a circus in the beginning of year 1970… and then he recorded cassets for Rehmat Gramophone House, Faisal Abad. Now he is a very famous singer of pakistan punjabi folk… with best wishes yar shamsi from germany… This info is sent by MOHAMMAD YAR SHAMSI from Germany. Thank you so much Shamsi Sahab with much love and respect.

Amanpreet Kaur

Arieb Azhar

Arieb Azhar is a Pakistani pop singer. His most famous hit is Husn-e-Haqiqi, the kalam of Khawaja Ghulam Farid.

Arif Hussain Bhatti

Arif Hussain Bhatti is a Punjabi folk singer. We could not find anything about the life of this singer. If you have seen something or can write about him. Please contact me nasimabbas7@gmail.com .

Arif Lohar

Arif Lohar (born 1966) is a Pakistani folk singer. He usually sings with native musical instrument resembling tongs (called a ‘chimta’). His folk music is representative of traditional folk heritage of the Punjab. He is the son of folk singer Alam Lohar. Born in a small village called Aach Goch in Gujrat District, Punjab, Pakistan , Lohar started singing to explore the folk singing of Punjab, and to keep the tradition of his father alive. In 2005, he was awarded Pride of Performance Award from Government of Pakistan-the highest civil award in Pakistan. Son of Alam Lohar (another icon of Punjabi music) he started his singing career at an early age. To-date he has more than 150 albums to his credit and has recorded more than 3000 mostly Punjabi language songs. He is without doubt the number one living Punjabi Folk Singer in Pakistan. Worldwide he is among the Top Five Punjabi Folk and Pop Singers. In 2006 he made headlines in the Punjabi music world by his super hit album ’21st Century Jugni’, music produced, arranged and mastered by Mukhtar Sahota in Wolverhampton, UK, and was released by Internalmusic UK. Recently in June 2010 COKE STUDIO released his album Jugni COKE STUDIO which became a smash hit in Pakistan and over the Punjabi music world. Arif Lohar has made more than 50 foreign tours around the world during the last 20 years including UK, USA and UAE. Arif Lohar in the past has played lead roles in Punjabi movies also. He is going to perform at the Wembly Arena London September 2010 to help the flood victims of Pakistan to an expected crowd of 25000 plus. Currently his career is at the peak in the Punjabi music world. He appeared in Pakistani film Jugni Nach De Aye, singing and producing three songs for the soundtrack.

Asa Singh Mastana

Asa Singh Mastana was a Punjabi Musician and singer, best known for lending his voice to the hit Bollywood film Heer. His well-known songs, among others “Doli Charhdiyan Marian” and “Kali teri gut”, have served as templates for later Punjabi musicians. He was mostly paired with Surinder Kaur or Prakash Kaur for singing many old folk songs of Punjab. He even sang at marriages. Asa singh Mastana should not be confused with Asha Singh, who is a young punjabi bhangra artist from New York.

Asad Amanat Ali Khan

Asad Amanat Ali Khan (September 25, 1955 – April 8, 2007) was a popular classical, semi-classical and ghazal singer from Pakistan. Hailing from famous Patiala Gharana[1], Asad was son of famous musician Ustad Amanat Ali Khan. Asad Amanat Ali Khan died relatively young of heart attack on April 8, 2007 in London.

Attaullah Khan Esakhelvi

Attaullah Khan Essakhilvi is a well known folk singer and poet of Pakistan. He has a world record of the highest number of audio albums ever released by a singer. He is traditionally considered a Siraiki artist but mostly he has als recorded albums in the Punjabi language. The reason behind his astonishing success is that he sings only for the poor, desperate and afflicted. His voice has a healing effect and is considered on of the best folk singers Pakistan has ever produced. He has dominated the folk music scene of Pakistan for over thirty years. He gathers thousands in his audiences whenever and wherever he performs. He hails from the famous Niazi tribe. other famous Niazi people are Imran Khan the cricketer, Majid Khan (cricketer) and Muneer Niazi (Urdu poet). He has released smash hits such as Qameez Teri Kaali, Raatan and Mahi Wasey Mera. He has become one of the most well known singers in Pakistan. In his early years, the love of his life left him for another man and he turned to alcohol, but since then he has changed his ways. When he sing a song,his face and acting is very emotional.

Ayesha Ali

Ayesha Ali started her classical vocal training with late Ustad Nazir Ahmad Butt, and than has been in the tutelage of late Ustad Hafeez Khan Talwandi focusing on Dhurpad Gaiki. Ayesha is a mathematician by profession and teaches at the Lahore School of Economics. After the passing of Ustad Hafeez Khan, she conducts the vocal class at Chitrkar. [Courtesy: Lahore Chitrkar]

Barkat Sidhu

Barkat Sidhu (1946-) is a sufi singer from Moga district, Punjab, India, and is a fine exponent of the Patiala Gharana. Barkat was born at Kaniya village near Shahkot in Jalandhar district in 1946. He is a cousin of Puran Shahkoti.

Bhupinder & Mitali

Singer, Composer and ace Guitarist Bhupinder Singh, lovingly called Bhupi, is an awesomely talented multifaceted personality. Trained by his father Prof. Natha Singh, the noted vocalist of his time, Bhupinder started his musical career as a young artist at All India Radio (AIR), Delhi. Spotted for his singing talent by the legendary Madan Mohan Bhupi was brought to Mumbai by the master himself. After ‘Hoke majboor mujhe..’ from Haqueeqat there was no looking back for Bhupinder Singh. Not only he lent his voice to memorable soulful numbers for R.D. Burman, Jaidev and Khayyam among others, the natural progression of his musical talents took him to the next step, i.e. music direction. Many meaningful geets and ghazals still linger in our senses. Who can forget those enchanting melodies like “Shama Jalaye Rakhna”, “Darwaza Khula Rakhna”, “Aadatan Tumne Kar Diye Vaade” and others? Bhupinder’s hands created magic when he played guitar in the famous ‘Chura liya hai’ and ‘Dum Maro dam’. The musical journey of Bhupinder Singh met a new dimension when he met Mitali Singh nee Mukherjee in a programme in Mumbai way back in late seventies. Hailing from a musical family in Bangladesh, Mitali started her training from the early age of five and finished M.Phil from SNDT, Collge, Mumbai. Little did she know , whom she was destined to meet and sing history for the years to come. The sensational duo of Bhupinder-Mitali became an aura.

Bushra Sadiq

We could not find anything about the life of this singer. If you have seen something or can write about him. Please contact me nasimabbas7@gmail.com .

Chitra Singh

Chitra Singh is a renowned Indian Urdu/Hindi ghazals singer. She is married to Jagjit Singh, who is also a prominent ghazal singer. They form a highly popular duet team and are considered pioneers in modern ghazal singing.

Ghulam Ali

Ghulam Ali (born 1940) is a Pakistani ghazal singer of the Patiala gharana born in the village of Kaleke in the Sialkot District of Punjab (now in Pakistan). He belongs to a musical family, his father was a vocalist and a sarangi player who initiated Ghulam Ali to music from his childhood. Ali’s father named him after Bade Ghulam Ali. At 15, he became a student of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, a master of the Patiala Gharana of Hindustani music. Due to the busy schedule of Bade Ghulam Ali, he was trained mainly by Bade Ghulam Ali Khan’s three brothers, Barqat Ali Khan, Mubarak Ali Khan, and Amanat Ali Khan, in Lahore.