Swarn Noora Biography 
Swarn Noora was a Sufi singer from Amritsar, Punjab, who was based in Jalandhar. She belonged to a family with strong roots in Indian traditional music, which includes Sufi, folk and other genres of music. Most of the musicians of the family practised Sham Chaurasia gharana of classical music. Noted playback singers - Nooran Sisters of Pataka Kudi fame are her granddaughters. Swarn Noora’s son Gulshan Nooran is also a gifted singer. However following Swarn Noora’s death, the family faced financial troubles, and he gave musical lessons to students to provide financial aid of the family. For that, he had to give up his singing career completely. But he managed to groom a singing career to both his daughters, who later became established Sufi and playback singers.
Swarn Noora was born to acclaimed Sufi singer, Bibi Noora. Her family has ancestral roots in Faisalabad of present-day Pakistan. The family moved to India at the time of partition and got settled in Punjab. Initially she was based in Amritsar, and later in Jalandhar where her singing career flourished. She regarded her late husband Sohan Lal as her guru and mentor in the field of Sufi singing. Since young she was interested in music. However as she belonged to a conservative family, her singing talents were not promoted by her parents, despite the fact that her mother was a well-established singer. When she got married to a musical family at the age of 21, her husband supported her singing career.
She was married into a family of professional Qawali singers. Yet she joined the music line only after she became seriously ill. When asked she expressed her desire to sing for concerts in front of audience. He immediately agreed and began to train her to sing with a dholak and a tabla. From there on, her husband fully supported her professional career. The couple had two sons – Gulshan and Gulzar, both into the field of music.
Published: December 29, 2018
Updated: December 29, 2018
