Puranchand Wadali

Puran Chand Wadali, popularly known as Ustad Puran Chand Wadali, is an Indian singer known for his work in the Punjabi music industry. He was born on 4 June 1940; in Amritsar, Punjab. He is the elder one amongst the very famous, Wadali brothers. His younger brother Pyarelal Wadali died on 4 March 2018 at 75 due to cardiac arrest at the Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, Amritsar. His father, Thakur Das Wadali, was a famous Mazaar of Data Ganj Baksh Saheb at Lahore before the Indo-Pak partition. Puran Chand is mainly associated Sufi style of singing. He sings in the Gurbani, Kafi, Ghazal, and Bhajan genres of music. Before becoming a singer, he used to work in akharas(a wrestling ring) for 25 years. Puran Chand was driven into singing by his father. He studied music from the masters’ Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Ali Khan was a renowned actor of Hindi Cinema. He >> Read More... of Patiala Gharana and Pandit Durga Das.

Pyarelal(his younger brother) got his training from Puran Chand, who he considered his guru(teacher) and mentor till his death. Puran Chand, along with his brother, used to perform inside their village; but in 1975, the duo went out to perform for the first time in Jalandhar at the Harballabh Sangeet Sammelan. But they were not allowed to sing because of their appearance. Heavily disappointed, they decided to sing at the Harballabh temple, where an executive of All India Radio, Jalandhar, spotted them and recorded their first song. The duo entered Hindi cinema with writer Gulzar's movie, Pinjar in 2003.

He has also worked in films like Dhoop, Tanu Weds Manu Click to look into! >> Read More... , Chikku Bukku, and Mausam. In 2005, he received the prestigious Padma Shri award for his contribution to music. He lives in his ancestral house in Guru Ki Wadali, Amritsar, and teaches music to the aspirants. He leads a simple life devoted to the divine ones and believes in the Sufi tradition strongly. Puranchan and his brother considered themselves a medium through which the preaching of great saints carried on to others. They never got indulged commercially or commercialized their music. They only have a few recordings to their name, mostly from live concerts. Puran Chand believes the only medium to reach spiritual heights is if you sing unreservedly in a free atmosphere.