Visually challenged Indo-Canadian teenager rocks Punjabi music

Chandigarh, Jan 18 (IANS) He lost his eyes to cancer when he was just six months old, but his love for music and sheer determination has made 14-year-old Indo-Canadian Jugpreet Bajwa aka Juggy Jag a top name in Punjabi music in Canada.

He released his first Punjabi album, 'Juggy De Nakhare', here.

'He could be a role model for millions of people on this earth who are suffering from one or the other disease. I am amazed to see the dedication of this boy towards music. During the recording, everyday he worked for 10 to 12 hours,' said Charan Thakur, composer and producer of the album.

Released Thursday, 'Juggy De Nakhare' is a mixture of Punjabi hip-hop and soothing classical music. There are nine songs in the album including one Hindi song and it took Jag 25 days to complete the album.

'I am trained in Indian classical music and can sing any type of song like classical, ghazals, bhajans, folk, bhangra, Hindi Bollywood or latest rock and hip-hop,' Jag told IANS.

'I started learning music at the age of four and gave my first stage performance at the age of six. Till date, I have performed in more than 350 stage shows. In 2007, I had my own exclusive sold out concert in Vancouver,' stated Jag.

Jag was born and brought up in Canada and presently resides in Vancouver with his family. He has two siblings and his father, Jagbir Singh is in real estate business there.

But life has not been an easy journey for Jag so far. A few months after his birth, he was detected with retinoblastoma cancer and both his eyes were removed by the doctors for his treatment.

A hard core fan of Gurdas Mann and Shankar Mahadevan, Jag wants to make a career in the music industry. Right now, he studies in Class 8 and loves skating, travelling and swimming.

In 2007, Jag also won the Bollywood Ek Tara competition in Vancouver in which many professional singers between the age group of 13 to 55 participated.

Recently, Jag was also invited by doctors of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research here to give a performance before the patients who are suffering from fatal diseases.

'I performed a musical show there for the patients to motivate them. I tried to inspire them to take life as it comes, with grit. I also narrated my story to the children present there; the idea was just to motivate them to take a positive approach in life,' said Jag.