Bharat Singh Bharti

For more than seventy years Bharat Singh Bharti has sung, written and taught the folk songs of Bihar’s Bhojpuri country. In 2026 he was named for the Padma Shri in the field of art, from Bihar ^[1].

Village kirtans to radio

Bharti was born on 20 November 1936 in Nonaur village, Bhojpur district ^[2]. He started singing with kirtan groups as a child and trained under Shatrunjay Prasad Singh, known as Lalan Ji ^[2]. He plays the tabla, harmonium, flute, sitar, dholak and jhal ^[2].

He has been with All India Radio, Patna, since 1962 and became a top-grade artist, bringing Bhojpuri folk music to wide audiences on radio and Doordarshan ^[2]. In 1987 he represented India at a festival in Mauritius, where his album Purabiya Taan was released ^[2].

Teacher and songwriter

Bharti founded the Nonaur gharana and two music schools: the Tara Institute of Learning in Kankarbagh (1995) and Bharti Sangeet Kala Mandir in Nonaur (2005) ^[2]. Thousands of students have trained there, many of them girls from villages and young people from poor families ^[2].

His books Nayka Bihan and Sapta Sarovar sort Bhojpuri folk songs into genres such as nirgun, kajri, Holi songs and Devi geet ^[2]. Songs he wrote, such as “Manwa Basela Ganga Tohri Lahariya” as well as “Sanwar Sanwar Suratiya Tohar Dulha”, became popular in the voice of Sharda Sinha ^[2].

He received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Amrit Award in 2022–23 and a lifetime achievement award from the Bihar government in 2025 ^[2].