Background
Shaunki was born as Amar Singh on 15 August 1916, in a Sikh family to father Sardar Moola Singh, in the village of Bhajjlan (now Hoshiarpur district) in British Punjab (British India).
Shaunki was born as Amar Singh on 15 August 1916, in a Sikh family to father Sardar Moola Singh, in the village of Bhajjlan (now Hoshiarpur district) in British Punjab (British India).
People travelled miles to listen to him. He hailed from a mediocre farmer family and never went to school but learned Punjabi (Gurmukhi) from the other educated persons. He was very much interested in folk music from his childhood and learned it from Sant Baba Maan Singh of Sialkot.
At first he sang under last name Mast but as started singing with Dhadd and Sarangi and made a team with Sarwan Singh and Mohan Singh Binda, he fixed Shaunki as his last name.
The main themes of his songs evokes the culture and folk of Punjab. He sang about every color of Punjabi folk.
Many Punjabi singers today, including Manmohan Waris and Kamal Heer sings songs written by him. People of his village Bhajjlan organized a fair, Dhadi Amar Singh Shaunki Sabhyacharak Mela every year in his memory.
Punjabi singers from all around the world participates in the fair and pays tribute to the late Dhadi.
