Tributes to Surinder Kaur, one of the most popular Punjabi folk singers of the gramophone age, on her 90th birth anniversary today.

Tributes to Surinder Kaur, one of the most popular Punjabi folk singers of the gramophone age, on her 90th birth anniversary today.
A gifted artist, Surinder Kaur, is credited for pioneering and popularising the Punjabi folk songs and later was known as the Nightingale of Punjab. She also sang songs in nearly 35 Hindi films as a playback singer between 1948 and 1952. After Noorjehan, Surinder Kaur has undoubtedly been the most recorded and most popular Punjabi singing star of the 20th century.
Surinder Kaur, along with her sisters Parkash Kaur and Narinder Kaur, had pioneered a trend in Punjabi gayaki by bringing those folk, ritualistic and rustic romantic songs into the mainstream which were hitherto confined to household gatherings. Surinder Kaur successfully transported Punjabi traditional and contemporary folk music to a spectacular level of world recognition, leaving an indelible print on the rich musical heritage of Punjab.
Surinder Kaur recorded more than 2,000 Punjabi songs to emerge as the undisputed queen of Punjabi folk singing. Most of her songs have attained immortality, among them being duets with other legendary Punjabi folk singers, including Asa Singh Mastana, Rangila Jatt and Didar Sandhu.
Surinder Kaur was conferred with Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1982, the Millennium Singer award and then with the Padma Shri in 2006.
After a career spanning 50 years of active singing, Surinder Kaur died on June 15, 2006 in New Jersey, USA, after a prolonged illness.