Barinder Saluja, Chandigarh,July 31 : A new voice in the field of Sufiana Singing, Dr. Satinder Sartaj, Mesmerised the Audience with the blend of his Sufi Andaz and Punjabi Singing. A jam packed Tagore Theater once again witnessed a full house and sound of claps, though, another flock of audience was found standing to listen to their favorite sufi singer.
Governor of Punjab & UT Administrator, H.E. ShivRaj V Patil was Chief Guest for today’s event. The concert was organised by S. Beant Singh memorial trust, in which family and followers of former CM of Punjab, S. Beant Singh & Mrs Beant Singh were present on the occasion. Memento and Shawl were presented to some of the famous personalities for their outstanding achievement in the Field of “Punjabi Poetry”.
He sang lot of songs for the enthusiastic audience, starting of with a Hit, “Sai”, which these days is on the lips of lots of fans. “Jitt De Nishaan”, “Pichhe Ke Bachda”, “Yaar Punjabi”, and the Most wanted “Yamaha” – a song written by Sartaj himself when he had a Second Hand Yamaha RX-100 Motorbike while living in PU’s Hostel No. 2 when he was pursuing his M.Phil in vocals.
Satinder Sartaj was born in an ordinary farmer family of remote and drowsy village Bajrawarpur in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab state. In his childhood, Satinder Sartaj was too much inspired by the nature and very serious about the aspects of life. Since then he used to praise the beauty of nature. Every natural phenomenon inspires Satinder Sartaj very much. He studied in the Government school of his village Bajrawarpur till 5th class.
Curiously, he used to marvel at the beauty and fragrance of flowers, spectrum of rainbow, the water springs in the calm surroundings besides the melodic strains of music that flowed from a flute and sarangi which the wandering folk and sufi musicians played.
As a child he developed a taste for the perfect Punjabi tradition and the Sufiana Qalaams though apparently it was not within his conceptual grasp. However an intense desire to learn and imbibe the rich mysticism of sufiana music dominated in his educational career.
Following the passion of his inner soul, Satinder Sartaj concentrated on his sufiana musical career having done his M. Phil in Sufi music singing and later a Doctorate in Sufi singing (gayan) from Punjab University, Chandigarh. With a view to have an close feel of the divine radiance and mystic experiences of the greats like Jalludin Rumi, Shams Tabrezi from Iran, Satinder Sartaj had secured a diploma in Persian with distinction.
When Satinder Sartaj started singing, he felt to have a different surname. One night he was sleeping in hostel of the university, and woke up at 3 AM tried but couldn’t sleep again. He picked up the paper-pen, starts writing the song, and the last line was ‘Tere Sir Taareyan Da Taj Ve’ at this moment he adopted the surname Sartaj.
Revealing in the glory of the mysticism of Baba Farid, Bulle Shah, Sultan Bahu, Shah Hussain and others, the accomplished singer Satinder Sartaj had recorded his first album of Sufi music called Mehfil-E-Sartaj. Now he Writes like Waris Shah, Dresses like Waris Shah.
An Excellent Initiative for promotion of local traditional art & culture for the people of Punjab through music keeping in pace with the International Year of Communication and also Rapprochement of Cultures observed by the United Nations of the World.
Let the sound of music of our dynamic Dr. Satinder Sartaj light the flames of love & peace to combat social evils and create Humane Society not only in the State of Punjab but also throughout our country and the world as well.
I would like to present to my dearest brothers & sisters of Punjab Rabindranath Tagore quote ” Music is the purest form of an art…therefore true poets, they who are sheers, seek to express the universe in terms of music…The notes come out from his very life. They are not materials gathered from outside.”
All the very best! Let us hope that our Dr. Sartaj become a ‘Role Model in Music’ to the youth of 21st century especially from the Rural India.