New Delhi: Punjabi folk singer Gurmeet Bawa was on Monday conferred the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian award, posthumously.
Gurmeet Bawa’s daughter Galori Bawa accepted the award from President Ram Nath Kovind in a Civil Investiture Ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah also attended the ceremony.
Bawa, who’s popularly known as ‘Lambi hek di malika’ (the queen of singing in an extended breath), passed away in November 2021 at the age of 77 .
For her contribution to Punjabi folk music, Gurmeet Bawa was conferred with the state award by the Punjab government in 1991, Sangeet Puraskar by the Punjab Natak Akademi, the national Devi Ahilya Award by the Madhya Pradesh government in 2002 and the Shiromani Gayika Award by the Punjabi language department in 2008.
‘Liade chamba, lavan ghare de kol’, and ‘Kaharo doli na chayao…. mera babal aya ni’ are some of her remarkable songs.
