An award-winning Punjabi Sikh singer will conclude her first North American tour at the Indian Summer Festival in Vancouver. Rashmeet Kaur will bring her spiritually infused, high-energy Punjabi folk, Sufi, hip-hop, and R&B-inspired music to the Vancouver Playhouse at 7 p.m. on Saturday (July 11). Her first show in Vancouver is titled “Sacred Sounds, New Worlds: Rashmeet Kaur”.
Kaur has been well-known for many years in India and among the Punjabi diaspora. In 2020, she gained international acclaim for her collaboration with Major Lazer on “Jadi Buti”. It was included on Major Lazer’s Grammy-nominated Music is the Weapon album.
The following year, Kaur sang “Nadiyon Paar”, which was part of the soundtrack for the Bollywood film Roohi. It’s a horror-comedy starring Rajkummar Rao, Janhvi Kapoor (the daughter of Sridevi), and Varun Sharma.
Kaur also co-wrote the music and sang “Ishq Nachaawe” with Yashraj for the Bollywood buddy film Kho Gaye Hum Kahan. It starred Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, and Adarsh Gourav. For this song, Kaur was nominated for Best Playback Singer – Female in the FOI Online Awards
Then in 2023, Kaur joined forced with comedian Munawar Faruqui for a lighthearted dance video for “Pyaar Ki Bahaar (Season of Love)”. Kaur composed the music and sang in the video and co-wrote the lyrics with Faruqui and IP Singh.
The following year, she released her debut studio album, KAURA (Aura of Kaur), which included “Ishq Nachaawe”.
Watch the video for Rashmeet Kaur’s “Pyar Ki Bahaar” featuring Munawar Faruqui.
Kaur feels blessed to have learned from her mom
In an interview last month with the New York-based Jasmine Kaur Podcast, Kaur spoke about singing Gurbani devotional music from the age of three or four with her mom in a gurdwara in Delhi.
“I’m blessed that I got to learn from my mom,” Kaur said.
She continued singing Gurbani, which is based on classical ragas. At the age of 10, Kaur was invited to perform before then Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh at his official residence.
Kaur went on to study Indian classical music for eight years. And in 2012, she won the Sur Sartaj singing competition. Then in 2019, she released her debut EP “Musafir”, which featured Punjabi folk and poetic works by Sufi saints.
“Music chose me from the beginning because I was not very keen on doing music as a profession,” Kaur conceded on the podcast. “It was just a hobby. Then it became my everything.”
The following year, Kaur commemorated the 551st birthday of Guru Nanak Dev ji with the release of a full Gurbani album, Manjh Muhabbat Teri.
Before Kaur takes the stage at the Vancouver Playhouse, Indian Summer Festival will present Asad Khan’s Sammah Project. It blends Sufi tradition with modern production.
“Drawing from Indian classical, Old Hindi film, Punjabi folk, Qawwali and Ghazal, each piece is reimagined within lush, electronic soundscapes where tradition and modern production live side by side,” the festival states on its website.
The Indian Summer Festival will present Rashmeet Kaur and Asad Khan’s Sammah Project at 7 p.m. on Saturday (July 11) at the Vancouver Playhouse. For tickets and more information, visit the Indian Summer Festival website.
Follow Pancouver on Instagram @PancouverMedia, on X @PancouverMedia, and on Bluesky @pancouver.bsky.social.
