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Gurmeet Kaur Bawa was born on 18 February 1944 to Uttam Singh from the womb of Mata Ram Kaur in village Kotha (Aliwal) district Gurdaspur. They were three sisters and one brother. Gurmeet Bawa was still very young when his mother passed away from this world. He was brought up with the support of his elder sisters. Gurmeet Bawa used to say that my education was done with the help of my elder sisters. At that time girls were not sent out of the house to study. I was the first girl from three villages who became a teacher by doing JBT after passing class ten. My father helped me a lot in this work.
On 5 June 1968, Gurmeet was married to Kirpal Singh Bawa, who belonged to the Bedi family of Dera Baba Nanak. Once when Gurmeet and Kirpal Bava were sitting near their father in Gurumeet Bawa's village, the father asked Kirpal Singh to recite Bava's. From that day the name of this family became Bawa and he dropped the word Bedi from his name. Kirpal Bawa started living in Amritsar after marrying Gurmeet Bawa. Now the house of this family is in Fairland Colony, Fatehgarh Chundi Road, Amritsar. Kripal Bawa was a MA B.Ed teacher and singing was also in his veins. Both of them left their jobs and turned to singing. Gurumeet Bawa's guru in the field of singing was Kripal Bawa. He also sang duets but served Punjabi culture with satisfaction. Three daughters, Lachi Bawa, Glory Bawa and Simrat Bawa were born to them. He did his duty and provided good education to the children. Gurmeet Bawa was sitting with the pain of his daughter Lachi Bawa, who had died of an incurable disease. Lachie was also a good singer.
When Jalandhar Doordarshan started, Gurmeet Bawa was the first to sing a song there. Gurmeet Bawa was also selected as artist on Delhi Doordarshan. Gurmeet Bawa was known in the country and abroad for songs like 'Jugni', 'Suhaag', 'Gori', 'Sithni', 'Lok Gathavan' etc. After the India-Pakistan war, the army had no artist to entertain the soldiers. By doing this the government selected various artists, the name of Gurmeet Bawa was prominent among them. Gurmeet Bawa also sang songs in Panj Cheech films. He first sang a song in the film 'Sarpanch'.
Harmonium, bassoon, tongs, dholki, pitcher etc. were used in Bava's singing music. He took a time of 45 seconds, which was a record. His first song recorded on LP (Tave) was 'Main Jatti Punjab Di Meri Reese Khon Kare'. It sold 13 thousand copies, which was a record-breaking sale.
Gurmeet Bawa visited about 25 countries on the basis of singing, his first visit was to Russia. She was awarded the State Award by the Government of Punjab in 1991 and the National Devi Ahilya Award by the Government of Madhya Pradesh in 2002. Awarded Shiromani Gayaka Award by the Department of Languages, Punjab in 2008. Honored with Bharati Sangeet Natak Akademi National Award. Punjab Arts Council honored him with Punjab Gaurav Award. Gurmeet Bawa was posthumously awarded the country's second highest civilian award 'Padma Bhushan'. In 2019, Gurmeet Bawa was honored by the Punjabi Sports and Culture Club in the Parliament of New Zealand. He served Punjabi culture with his singing for 55 years. He died on 21 November 2021 at the age of 77, surrounded by his family, relatives and interested listeners. Gurumeet Bawa, who used to sing with great enthusiasm on every stage, made 'Aye jawani sab log vahinda jaai kise na dithi, ki maniyad hai bandya teri aakhar hona mitti' come true. We have a priceless treasure of his singing, listening to which gives peace to the mind.