Kaka Bhaniawala (1971 – 2009) was a UK-based Punjabi pop singer. Though he started his music career in India, he gained recognition through the Bangra singers in collaboration with several UK based artists. His real name is Santokh Singh Rataurh, and ‘Kaka’ was his pet name given by his mother which later he added with the name of his village ‘Bhani’ to give his stage name ‘Kaka Bhaniawala’. He died of jaundice at a comparatively young age of 38 while he was compiling his debut solo album. Till then he was associated with other artists for singles. “Sahnevaal Chounk” is the Bhangra single which shot him to instant fame while in UK. Daru Pee Ke, Jawani and Nachna were other major hits.
Kaka Bhaniawala was born in a small village ‘Bhani’ of Ludhiana. Initially he released many singles and albums while at India. But he couldn’t gain much recognition. He moved to UK and started working with many music producers. “Sahnevaal Chounk” – the title track of the album – Word Is Born earned him the first recognition. From there on he collaborated with several music producers and artists earning fame and popularity in UK. He was used to heavy drinking which resulted in liver cirrhosis at a young age and died age 38 only.
Kaka Bhaniawala – Some interesting facts
1. He added ‘Bhaniawala’ tag to his name as a reminder of where he came from.
2. Kaka’s one of the noted albums while in India was Vadia Sharabia.
3. His debut album, which he was working on, was not released. But his singles were released through the albums – Desi Quiz (2014) and Naina Di Lishkari (2017). Many of music videos in which he was featured were also released and received good response.
4. He had thousands of music lovers from India, UK and Canada. He was also regular in stage performances in India and abroad.
5. Tigerstyle, DJ H, DJ Rags etc are some of the artists/bands with which he worked.
6. He passed away in 2009 following complications after receiving a blood transfusion. He was undergoing a liver treatment at a hospital at Ludhiana then.
Bazaar Records were originally going to release Note Varna the debut album by the “Late” Kaka Bhaniawala back in the summer of 2007.
The debut album was not released because the owner of Bazaar Records known as Mr Bally Rai passed away leaving the record label in disarray and later defunct.
The Late Mr Vipen Kumar who was the founder, owner, president, chairman and once CEO of Scotland based label VIP Records took upon himself in early 2016 to release Note Varna for Kaka Bhaniawala but due to his unforeseen circumstances Mr Vipen Kumar passed away.
This now leaves Note Varna shelved in which many artists including Notorious JATT has gone onto YouTube to say the album will never come out!
Kaka Bhaniawala – Desi Quiz (Release date 2014 – Still remains unreleased!).
Kaka Bhaniawala – Note Varna (Release date 2016 – Still remains unreleased!).