Bhai Santa Singh Chamak was born to Bhai Waryam Singh and Mata Maha Kaur in the year 1904. Originally from the village Dhariwal, his father moved to Mukandpur first and their family finally settled in Jalandhar. Some of the elders in his family were very well known singers who often took part in classical music festivals such as the Harivallabh Sangeet Samelan. This naturally led to Bhai Santa Singh Chamak’s interest in Kirtan. He started learning from a very young age and along with music, he also studied history and the meaning of Gurbani. He used this knowledge to provided the Sangat with explanations and historical events along with the Shabads he sang. It is said that he was a very simple person and did not demand any money for Kirtan. He passed away at the age of 86 and is survived by a son and daughter. One of his students, Giani Pritam Singh Heer lives in Manchester, UK. The information above was translated from the book ‘Punjab De Parsidh Raagi Rababi’ by Balbir Singh Kanwal. If anyone has more recordings of Bhai Santa Singh Chamak to share, please contact us.
The recording below is from a Kirtan program at Singh Sabha, Fraser Road, Patna. Please ‘right click’ and ‘save link as’ to download audio files. Enjoy!