A tribute to Amrik Singh Arora

Amrik Singh Arora's musical career begun in 1961 and his first stage performance was at the Gurudwara Bara Sikh Sanghat in Kolkata, where he sang mostly bhajans with his mother, the late Jaswant Kaur. He also sang at school functions at Vishudha Nand Vidyalaya beside Mahajati Sadan. At 7 years, he had sung patriotic songs in Hindi.

His sitting room is reminiscent of a prayer-room with relief works of Krishna and goddesses Durga and Kali. This speaks volumes for the 'quest of the divine' in his songs. A line of trophies are pointers to the recognition of a musical career spanning 46 years

In 1966, at Blue Fox restaurant. Amrik was the first vocalist to introduce geets, ghazals, film songs Punjabi bhangra and Bhojpuri songs here.

The peak hours at Blue Fox were invariably the tea sessions when a huge queue of patrons would listen and be enraptured by Arora's magical voice. He recalls celebrities such as Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhonsle and RD Burman among his listeners

Amrik has recorded more than 2,000 modern, folk, and devotional Bengali songs. During 1983-84 another big break came in the form of devotional songs by way of Shyama Sangeet and Bhakti geet. Arora, besides from several performances in Kolkata with different organizations, has performed in Mumbai ,Delhi, USA and different countries of Europe.