Chamkila, the so-called ‘Elvis of Punjab’, famously outraged religious leaders with his ‘vulgar’ music. But what was so taboo about his songs that he was forced to fold his hands and apologise?
And in the end, that apology wasn’t enough! In 1988, Punjabi musician and cultural icon Amar Singh Chamkila had his rise cut cruelly short.
To this day, it’s not clear who pulled the trigger.
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Chapters
00:00 A wedding party
03:24 Hello my friend
04:45 The backstory
05:58 Chamkila’s big break
08:21 The rise and fame of Chamkila
09:47 Amarjot Kaur
11:01 Assassination
Host: Aslan Pahari
Producer: Hannah Jose
Audio Engineer: Tegan Nicholls
Video Producers: Tejas Bhat, Dylan Behan
Special thanks: Michael Osmond for archives research
Supervising Producer: Kyla Slaven
Executive Producers: Joel Werner, Eric George, Jessica Radburn

Real live program footage and photographs of Amar Singh Chamkila and Amarjot Kaur, used with permission from
Tiwana Music Evolution: https://www.youtube.com/@TiwanaMusicEvolution
Shamsher Singh Sohi: https://www.youtube.com/@ShamsherSinghSohi, chamkila.in

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