Gurdas Maan- the magical maestro

Raising Punjabi music from a mere regional level to an international level by giving it a fresh look, a pioneer in many ways and keeps trying to better things by doing something different, Gurdas Mann has come a real long way.

The Punjabi singer and actor, born on 4 January 1957 in Giddarbaha, Faridkot District, Punjab, stirred the people with his song ‘Dil Da Mamala Hai’, which brought him national attention in 1980.

Gurdas Maan, the real love of Punjab, has 27 albums and more than 200 songs to his credit. He also wrote and directed TV programmes like ‘POP Time’ for DoorDarshan Delhi.

When Gurdas Mann started his career, the market was dominated by the duets and solo singers were not given that much of preference. Mann declined many offers to perform as a duet and was positive of becoming successful as a solo artist. Even today when organizers arrange for a group of artists to perform, he always performs solo. He has toured the globe and charmed audiences with his versatile performances.

Not just singing, but Mann excelled in sports as well and has received a masters degree in Physical Education. He has competed in many athletic events and won medals including a bronze at the National Championship. He is also a black belt in Judo.

Aside from singing in Punjabi, he is fluent in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Haryanvi and Rajasthani. As an actor, he has performed in Punjabi, Hindi and Tamil movies. Mann’s magical voice in his latest album ‘Vilayatan’ released in December 2005 won many hearts.

He sang ‘Dil Da Mamla Hai’ during a stage play, which was seen by producer of a Jalandhar TV station who approached him for a TV recording of his song. When the song was aired on December 31, 1980 it stormed the nation and Gurdas Maan became a household name. The awe-inspiring success of the song snaffled the attention of HMV who wanted to record the song and from this came his second album in 1981.

Some of his other hit songs include ‘Heer’, ‘Apna Punjab’, ‘Peer Tere Jaan Di’ and ‘Babe Bhangra Paunde Ne’. ‘Apna Punjab’ outdid all his other tracks and has received awards for the best song, album and best International artist of the Asian Pop and Media Awards held in Birmingham in 1998.

Having worked with distinguished music directors like Laxmikant Pyarelal, Bappi Lahiri, Anu Malik, Nadeem Sharvan, Amar Haidipur, Charanjeet Ahuja and Jaswant Bhanyra, Mann has also savored a bit of films. He starred in the hit film ‘Shaheed Udham Singh’ and recently alongside Juhi Chawla in the epic ‘Des Hoyaa Pardes’.

As it is said, ‘Music is the purest form of art’..... And true poets like Gurdas Mann seek to express the universe in terms of music.