Punjabi music loses its Sikander to Covid-19

PATIALA/JALANDHAR: Punjabi singer Sardool Sikander died of post-Covid multiple-organ failure at the age of 60 on Wednesday morning at a private hospital in Mohali.
His son, Alaap Sikander, said his father had contracted the Covid-19 infection in December 2020 but, later, tested negative, before being moved to hospital with post-Covid complications. Sardool’s funeral will be at his native village, Kheri Naudh Singh in Fatehgarh Sahib district.The Patiala Gharana singer had learnt music from his father, Sagar Mastan, and then Charanjit Ahuja. One of his ancestors, Karam Bakshish, was the royal singer of Patiala.
For the past several years, Sardool lived with his family at Dullepur village near Khanna in Ludhiana district. He leaves behind his wife, Punjabi singer Amar Noorie, and sons, Sarang Sikander, 26, and Alaap Sikander, 24, both into music. The family had lost Sardool’s brothers, Gamdoor Aman and Bharpoor Ali, earlier.
The command of four music traditions—folk, Sufi, Gurmat Sangeet, and classical— made Sardool a singing legend of Punjab, said Punjabi University Gurmat Sangeet chair former head Gurnam Singh, adding: “Sardool’s father, Sagar Mastan, was a product of ‘Harguna Taksal’ Gurmat Sangeet school in Fatehgarh Sahib.”
‘Aa gyi Roadways di laari’, ‘Ik charkha gali de vich daah lya’, ‘Ik kudi dil utte chha gayi’, ‘Tur jaawan ik var te maanwan labh diyan nahi’, ‘Doli’, ‘Gora rang na deyin rabba’, ‘Gori gal utte’, and ‘Sanu ishq brandi charh gyi’ were some of Sardool’s popular songs of the music-cassette age.
Youngest of three brothers, Sardool lost his father at 12. In one of his old television interviews, he mentioned how he missed this first Guru he had found at 4. Sardool’s nephew, Bawa Sikander, said: “Sardool learnt Sufi singing from his eldest brother, Gamdoor Aman, married Amar Noorie in 1993, worked in eight movies, and cut 27 albums. From Harguna, the family moved to Kheri Naudh Singh, where Sardool was born in January 1961.”
Sardool’s close friend and comedy artist Jaswinder Bhalla said: “He respected every religion and, before lockdown, used to sing at Jagratas. I was associated with him since 1982. About a month ago, his family informed me that he had Covid-19. For 10 days, he remained in the Machiwara and Ludhiana hospitals before being moved to Mohali. I had interviewed his entire family in ‘Hasseyan da Halla with Jaswinder Bhalla’.”
Only a few contemporaries could match Sardool’s voice range and ease with difficult compositions. After rising to fame in the 1980s, he never faded away, even as the times and tastes changed. Everything he sang became popular.
Charan Kamal Singh, director of Ishmeet Singh Music Institute, Ludhiana, said: “The connoisseurs respected him but his talent deserved more recognition. He perfected his God-gifted voice with enormous training. He could be good singing classical to Bollywood, both on live stage and in recording studio.”
In live performances, Sardool could mimic the singers senior to him. Many Punjabi singers acknowledged that it was not easy to sing in his presence. Music maestro and now MP Hans Raj Hans said: “We were both competitors and good friends. I took cues from his methods of training. Two months ago, after a long singing session, I told him at last that he had always been better.”
Music exponent Bhai Baldeep Singh, a conservationist, said: “Grounding in classical music made him so good with various folk music genres. Popularity couldn’t steal his humility.”
Last show at Kundli
Sardool’s last public appearance was on Delhi’s Kundli border in December, to support the farmers’ protest. He said: “Tell Ambanis and Andanis that you have challenged those who feed you. You can’t download food.” He sang a few lines of ‘Tainu vich Punjab de bhaalde khande shamsheeran’. Wife by his side, he recalled Shaheed Udham Singh and his 21-year wait for revenge. Punjabi Sahit Akademi former president Gurbhajan Singh Gill said: “Sardool also has three sisters, elder Shinghar Kaur and younger Karamjit Kaur."