Kuldeep Manak was an Indian singer best known for singing a rare genre of Punjabi music, kali, also known by its plural form kalian or kaliyan. In the late 1970s and early 1980s Manak was generally regarded as the best Punjabi singer in the world. His high pitched strong voice was unique, and instantly recognisable. A statue of Manak has been erected in Ludhiana near his residence as a tribute.
Early life
Manak was born as Latif Mohammed on 15 November 1951 to Nikka Khan, in the village of Jalal in Bathinda district of Indian Punjab. Sardar Partap Singh Kairon penned the name Kuldip Manak, after being amazed by the quality of his voice at a school prize giving. He completed his education from Jalal Government High School, where he was a keen hockey player. He had an inclination towards singing from an extremely young age. He was constantly persuaded by his ustad to graft in his raags and perform on stage. In his early career he became the baadshah of kaliyan. He had lyrics written by famous writers such as Debi Maksoospuri, Dev Threekewala and Jandu Litranwala. His most known tracks were gadeya millade sohne yaar, tere tille ton and dulleya ve tokra. Manak learnt the hazuri raagi methods of gaiki.
Family
Manak's father, Nikka Khan, was a singer himself. Manak had two brothers: Siddqui, a devotional singer, and Rafiq, who was also briefly noted. Kuldeep Manak's ancestors were the Hazoori Raagis of Kirtan for Maharaja Hira Singh of Nabha. He was married to Sarabjeet Kaur with whom he had two children, a boy named Yudhvir Manak and a girl named Shakti Manak. Yudhvir is following in his father's footsteps as a singer.
Career
Manak learned music under Ustad Khushi Muhammad Qawwal in village Bhuttiwala at Muktsar. He left Bathinda and went to Ludhiana to pursue his career as a singer and started singing with the duo Harcharan Grewal and Seema. 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" with Seema. In 1968, at the age of 17, 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". This record was a runaway success. He did sing duets with Satinder Kaur biba, younger sister of famous Punjabi singer Narinder biba; one of the duets was "Nale baba lasee pee gia nale de gia duanee khotee". 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 nu waajan maarian". The writer and lyricist, Hardev Dilgir spotted Manak at one of his live performances and penned many Lok Gathavan for him. Dev Threekewala and Manak were very close to each other. His first EP, Punjab Dian Lok Gathawan, was released by HMV in 1973 which included the songs "Jaimal Phatta", "Heer Di Kali" , "Raja Rasalu" and "Dulla Bhatti". All were written by Hardev Dilgir and the music was composed by Ram Saran Das. This was followed by another Lok Gathawan album in 1974 which included "Gorakh da Tilla" and "Allah Bismillah teri Jugni". In 1976 his first LP, Ik Tara, was released, which included the kali "Tere Tille Ton", "Chheti Kar Sarwan Bachcha" and "Garh Mughlane Dian Naaran" and more. Other albums included:
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, on the albumSahiban da Tarla the songs "Sahiban da Tarla", "Yaari Yaaran di" and "Teri aan ma Teri Ranjha" are all sung with different pitches.
Film
He also acted and sung in many Punjabi films such as Saidan Jogan with the song "sathon naee majhin chaar hundian", and Lambardaarni with "yaaran da truck balliye". In Balbiro Bhabi he was actor, singer and composer. He sang "ajj dhee ik raje di", in the 1983 filmSassi Punnu.
Politics
Manak took part in the parliament elections of 1996 as an independent member from Bathinda, but did not win.
On 25 December 2012, a tribute single was released by Aman Hayer under Moviebox Records with the title "The Folk King", featuring a number of artists interpreting his songs. The track was first played and performed at the Britasia Music Awards 2012 by Angrej Ali who started the song with "Vaar Banda Bahadur", with which Ustaad Kuldeep Manak Ji used to start his shows with. The final song sung in this tribute was "Tere Tille Ton" by Jazzy B, a close student of Ustaad Kuldeep Manak Ji. Manak's songs were featured in the movie Punjab 1984 starring Diljit Dosanjh and Pavan Malhotra as a tribute to him. The main character, Shivjeet, is an avid fan of Manak and his songs are played at suspenseful moments of the film.
