Dolly Guleriaਡੌਲੀ ਗੁਲੇਰੀਆ

Early life

Rupinder Kaur Sodhi was born on 14 April 1949 in Bombay — Baisakhi day — to Professor Joginder Singh Sodhi and Surinder Kaur, the folk singer celebrated as the 'Nightingale of Punjab'. She grew up between music and study: at five she was learning Manipuri and Bharat Natyam at Delhi's Triveni Kala Sangam, and at seven she began classical music training at the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, also learning Kathak. Her early gurus included Kundan Lal Sharma of the Patiala Gharana, and she sang her first solo on All India Radio in 1967.

She was a medical student with dreams of becoming a doctor when, in 1970, she married army officer Colonel S. S. Guleria. Motherhood followed, and with it a pause in her ambitions.

Being Surinder Kaur's daughter meant music was the family business, but Dolly's path was her own. Her childhood training was unusually broad — Manipuri and Bharat Natyam dance at Triveni Kala Sangam, Kathak, and classical vocal training from the age of seven at Gandharva Mahavidyalaya under teachers including Kundan Lal Sharma of the Patiala Gharana. By her teens she was a polished performer, singing on All India Radio in 1967 while still dreaming of medical college.

Career

Encouraged by her husband, Guleria resumed her training under the learned Ustad 'Khan Sahib' Abdul Rehman Khan of the Patiala Gharana, who grounded her in classical music with an aptitude for light classical and folk. Devotionally inclined since childhood, she chose to launch her solo career with an album of Gurbani in ragas, singing the evening prayer Rehraas Sahib in its original ragas.

Punjabi folk albums followed — some recorded with her mother, some solo — along with Shabad kirtan and settings of the poetry of Shiv Kumar Batalvi and Bhai Vir Singh. Her first HMV recording of Shabad Gurbani had come as early as 1968, with an LP of wedding songs alongside her mother. She also sang playback in Punjabi films including Rab Dian Rakhaan, Deson Pardes and Main Maa Punjab Di. The family's musical line continued into a third generation with her daughter Sunaini Sharma, heard on the 1995 LP Surinder Kaur — The Three Generations.

The turning point was her marriage in 1970. Motherhood could have ended her musical ambitions; instead, her husband's encouragement led her to Ustad Abdul Rehman Khan, whose rigorous Patiala Gharana training gave her the foundation for everything that followed. Her decision to debut with Gurbani in its original ragas — including the full Rehraas Sahib — was a statement of devotional seriousness, and it established her as a singer of substance rather than just a famous daughter.

The folk albums that followed, some with her mother and some solo, showed her range, while her settings of Shiv Kumar Batalvi and Bhai Vir Singh brought literary Punjabi poetry to wider audiences. Her playback work in Punjabi cinema and the 1997 Pakistan tour — where Lahore and Faisalabad audiences honoured her with a Minar-e-Pakistan plaque — confirmed her standing.

Major works

Her Gurbani albums in original ragas, her folk recordings with and after her mother, and her playback work in Punjabi cinema form the heart of her catalogue. A 1997 goodwill visit to Pakistan, where she and her daughter performed at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium and Faisalabad's Chenab Club, earned her a Minar-e-Pakistan golden plaque and a gold medal.

The Gurbani-in-ragas albums, the folk recordings with Surinder Kaur, the 1995 three-generations LP with her daughter Sunaini Sharma, and her Punjabi film playback.

Personal life

Guleria married Colonel S. S. Guleria in 1970 and has three children — daughter Sunaini Sharma and sons Dilpreet Singh and Amanpreet Singh. She teaches at her Nightingale Music Academy, passing the family tradition to dedicated students.

Married to Colonel S. S. Guleria since 1970, she raised three children while building her career, and now teaches at her Nightingale Music Academy — named, like her mother's title, for the family's songbird tradition.

Legacy

As the daughter of Surinder Kaur and the mother of Sunaini Sharma, Dolly Guleria stands at the centre of three generations of Punjabi women singers. Her insistence on keeping Punjabi music 'in its purest form' has made her a guardian of the folk tradition her mother defined.

Three generations of women singers — Surinder Kaur, Dolly Guleria, Sunaini Sharma — is a legacy few musical families anywhere can claim. Dolly Guleria's place in it is as the bridge: the daughter who honoured her mother's tradition and the mother who passed it on, insisting always on keeping Punjabi music in its purest form.