Kuldeep Manak (Punjabi: ਕੁਲਦੀਪ ਮਾਣਕ‌) ( 15 November 1951 - 30 November 2011) was a noted Punjabi singer^[3][4] of Indian Punjab. He was best known for singing a rare genre of Punjabi music, Kali,^[5] also known by its plural form kalian or kaliyan.^[1][6]

Early life [edit]

Manak was born as Latif Muhammad (Urdu: لطیف محمد‎) on 15 November 1951, to father Nikka Khan, in the village of Jalal^[1] in Bathinda district of Indian Punjab. He completed his matriculation from the village school, where he was a keen field hockey player. He had an inclination towards singing from a very young age and was persuaded by his teachers to sing and perform on stage.

Family [edit]

Manak's father, Nikka Khan, was a singer himself. Manak had two brothers: Siddqui, a devotional singer, and Rafiq, a tantric, who was also briefly noted. Kuldeep Manak's ancestors were the Hazoori Raagis (designated cantors) of Kirtan for Maharaja Hira Singh of Nabha.

He was married to Sarabjeet and had two children, a son named Yudhvir Manak and a daughter named Shakti.^[3] They both are married. Yudhvir is following in his father's footsteps as a singer.^[3][7]

Career [edit]

Manak learned music under Ustad Khushi Muhammad Qawwal^[8] of Firozpur^[5] He left Bathinda and went to Ludhiana to pursue his career as a singer and started singing with the duo Harcharan Grewal and Seema.^[1] When they came to Delhi, a music company official spotted Manak and asked him to record the song jija akhian na maar ve main kall di kurhi (written by Babu Singh Maan Mararawala) with Seema. In 1968, at the age of 17,^[6] he was given the chance to record the song with Seema. His first record features this song along with laung karaa mittra, machhli paunge maape (written by Gurdev Singh Maan).^[1] This record was a runaway success.

Later, he started an office at Bathinda along with writer Dilip Singh Sidhu of Kanakwal, but did not stay there for long and returned to Ludhiana. The first folk song sung by Manak was “maa Mirze di boldi”, followed by, “ohne maut ne waajan maarian”.^{[citation needed]}

The writer and lyricist, Hardev Dilgir (also known as Dev Tharikewala) spotted Manak at one of his live performances and penned many Lok Gathavan (English: old folk stories) for him.^[6]

His first EP, Punjab Dian Lok Gathawan,^[9] was released by HMV in 1973 which included the 4 songs Jaimal Phatta, Heer Di Kali (Teri Khatar Heere) (Kali), Raja Rasalu and Dulla Bhatti (Dulleya ve tokra chukayeen aanke), all penned by Hardev Dilgir and music composed by Ram Saran Das. This was followed by another Lok Gathawan album in 1974 including Gorakh da Tilla and Allah Bismillah teri Jugni. In 1976 his first LP, Ik Tara, was released including the kali Tere Tille Ton,^[2][8] Chheti Kar Sarwan Bachcha and Garh Mughlane Dian Naaran and more. Further albums included, 'Sahiban Bani Bharaawan Di' (1978), 'Sahiban Da Tarla' (1979), 'Maa Hundhi Ae Maa' (1980), 'Akhan ch Najaiz Vikdi', 'Ichhran Dhaahan Maardi' (1981), 'Mehroo Posti' (1982) 'Jugni Yaaran Di' (1983), 'Bhul Jaan Waaliye' (1986), 'Singh Soorme' and 'Do Gabhru Punjab De'. Manak's voice was versatile as within one album he sang in many different pitches and tones to reflect a song's meaning. For example in the album 'Sahiban da Tarla' the songs Sahiban da Tarla, Yaari Yaaran di and Teri aan ma Teri Ranjha are all sang with different pitches.^{[citation needed]}

In films [edit]

He also acted and sung in many Punjabi films like 'Saidan Jogan' (1979) with the song, sathon naee majhin chaar hundian, 'Lambardaarni' (1980) with yaaran da truck balliye (song), and Balbiro Bhabi (1981) as actor, singer and composer. He also sung a song, "ajj dhee ik raje di", in the 1983 film Sassi Punnu.^[10]

Politics [edit]

Manak also took part in the parliament elections of 1996 as an independent member from Bathinda^[11] but did not win.

In popular culture [edit]

On 25 December 2012, a tribute album was released by Moviebox under the title The Folk King (subtitle Ustad Kuldeep Manak Ji Tribute) and featured a number of artists interpreting his songs, including Aman Hayer, Angrej Ali, Balwinder Safri, Jazzy B, Malkit Singh, Manmohan Waris, Sukshinder Shinda and A.S. Kang.

Live renditions had also been recorded during the Brit Asia Music Awards 2012 with Angrez Ali (singing "Vaar Banda Bahadur"), Malkit Singh ("G.T. Road Te"), Sukhshinder Shinda (" Maa Hundi ae Maa"), A.S. Kang ("Chithiyan Sahiba Jatti Ne", Manmohan Waris ("Sahiba Bani Bharaawa Di"), Balwinder Safri ("Nakhre Bin Sohni") and Jazzy B ("Tere Tille To")

See also [edit]

• Kali (chhand)
• Dev Tharikewala
• Surinder Kaur
• Didar Sandhu
• Asa Singh Mastana
• List of Punjabi singers
• Punjabi folk music

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Kuldeep Manak Bio - Bhangra.org
• Kuldeep Manak video Interview DESIblitz.com