Emerge: Get to Know Gurnazar

Punjabi artist Gurnazar is one of the six artists who are part of Rolling Stone India and TuneCore India’s new editorial campaign ‘Emerge.’

‘Emerge’ will profile and chronicle the lives of six breakout artists from across India: Odiya rapper Big Deal, Hindi/Gujarati artist Priya Saraiya, Assamese singer Antara Nandy, Bengali artist Rupam Islam and Haryanvi artist Vishvajeet Choudhary. Discover more about each artist’s process of making music and why they chose TuneCore to put their music out into the world.

Gurnazar Chattha, who also goes by the mononym Gurnazar, is a Punjabi singer-songwriter from Haryana. Although he initially prepared for a life in professional roller skating– winning numerous national accolades (over 80 medals) and breaking world records–music became a part of his life right before college. He formed a band called Green Chorus with six friends in 2010, and would eventually go on to win Channel V’s Nokia India Fest Launch Pad in 2014, opening numerous doors for the singer in the Indian independent music scene. “Since the time I’ve started making music, I’ve never done it under the influence of any person or what they tell me to,” he explains about what drives him to make music. “I always try to be my best in my zone and love working independently.”

On his decision to choose TuneCore as the digital distributor for his music, the Gurnazar says, “TuneCore helps you a lot to connect with the right audience. It distributes your music genre with the matching listeners in such a way that it not only reaches them but also makes them connect with you.” 

Today Gurnazar is one of the biggest emerging names in Punjabi independent music and playback, forging a bright career via YouTube and the live music scene in India. He often experiments with rock and pop, even blending in touches of Quawaali in some tracks to showcase the diversity of Indian music. “Making any new song is a big challenge,” he says about the challenges of his process. “This is because every artist wants the audience to love their new creation and it’s not always that the audience likes it. So giving your best and putting all your efforts for a positive response in return from the audience’s end is in itself a big challenge.”