MUSIC
Born and raised in Tottenham and Edmonton, North London, Amrit Kaur is a singer-songwriter, sarangi player, composer and vocalist whose work bridges Indian classical music, Punjabi folk, jazz, blues and soul. A self-taught vocalist, she began learning the sarangi at 13 and was touring internationally by the age of 14. Today, Amrit is recognised as one of the few professional female sarangi players in the world. She studies under Ustad Surjit Singh, senior disciple of the legendary sarangi pioneer Pandit Ram Narayan. In 2017, she received the People’s Choice Award for Achievement in Arts and Culture at the Asian Achievers Awards.
At the heart of Amrit’s work is a passion for creating immersive live music experiences that foster connection, reflection and collective healing. Her performances have taken her to stages including Glastonbury Festival, Jazz Cafe London, The Barbican, All Points East Festival, Somerset House Summer Series and the Jaipur Literature Festival, as well as appearances at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club and Cafe OTO. She has also performed at the UN General Assembly alongside the Bob Marley family. A Barbican press release described her music as blending “vulnerability, Sikh spirituality and a bold stage presence,” with live performances that have become “a talking point across the UK festival circuit.” Following a US tour in 2018, OZY Magazine called her sound “the place where Punjabi folk meets Aretha soul.” Soon after, she was invited to Malibu by legendary producer Rick Rubin after he discovered her music.
In March 2026, Amrit began a residency at Studio Richter Mahr, founded by Max Richter and Yulia Mahr. There, she collaborated with live musicians on an album honouring her late sister, inspired by the stories, voices and traditions of Punjabi women. During the residency, she also developed an immersive sound bath experience rooted in Vedic sound science, exploring resonance, texture and the transformative power of sound. Supported by Arts Council England’s DYCP grant, the project expanded through a series of voice and storytelling workshops focused on research and creative development.
Amrit was named both a BBC Introducing artist and a BBC Asian Network Future Sounds artist in 2020, receiving support across national and regional radio. She has appeared on the award-winning podcast The Guilty Feminist, BBC Woman’s Hour with Anita Rani, and was spotlighted by Cerys Matthews on BBC 6 Music following her Glastonbury performance.
Known for her fluidity across genres, Amrit has collaborated with artists including Ali Sethi for his BBC Maida Vale session, jungle pioneer Congo Natty, Bob Marley’s grandson Skip Marley, and house and techno DJ BLOND:ISH. She also featured on the global reimagining of One Love alongside the Bob Marley family and artists including Raja Kumari for UNICEF, helping raise over $1 million during the Covid-19 pandemic. Much of her released catalogue has been produced by Mercury Prize and Grammy-winning producer Jonathan Quarmby and recorded at the iconic RAK Studios in London.
EDUCATION
Amrit holds a BA and MA History from SOAS, University of London – the world’s leading institution for the study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. She spent six years at SOAS, delving into the histories of colonised people, specialising in colonial Panjab, South Asian women and Sikh military history. Her background as a historian informs the storytelling element in her live performances. Audiences are invited to go on a journey through time, through music.
THEATRE
Amrit became a theatre enthusiast through the Go Live Theatre initiative (formerly Mousetrap Theatre Projects), a charity that subsidises West End and off-West End theatre tickets for young people, creating transformative experiences. Through this scheme Amrit saw countless dramatic productions in London from the age of 14-25. Eager to bring her passion for music and theatre together, Amrit first began composing music for the theatre with the role of Producer and Music Director for Tales of 1947, a student production at SOAS, University of London. Following this, she completed various courses in directing (Young Vic Theatre) theatre-making with young people (Islington Community Theatre/Company Three) stage craft (Kiln Theatre/Tricycle Theatre) and acting (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art – LAMDA). She is the composer for the Bush Theatre and Tara Theatre co-production of Sweetmeats at the Bush Theatre in London (2026).
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
In 2016, Amrit created a social enterprise, Humanised, to facilitate outreach workshops for her audiences while on tour. She conducted workshops for students at the University of Toronto, Princeton, Columbia and Berkeley Universities in North America and Punjab University and Ashoka University in India. For this work, she was awarded an UnLtd Do it Award, featured in the seventh Global Entrepreneurship Summit and presented at Google headquarters in California the following year.
CHARITY
She is also a mental health advocate, educator, coach and facilitator with over fifteen years of experience in the youth and education charity sector and the wellness field. She has been a Global Youth Ambassador for Sarah Brown’s charity TheirWorld alongside joint Nobel Peace Prize winners Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi. Amrit has also been an ambassador for the Holocaust Educational Trust, UK Punjab Heritage Association and Choose Love and served as a trustee for youth social action charity, Envision, for which she was once a beneficiary.