'Kabir of South' Padma Shri Ibrahim Sutar dies of heart attack

Besides being a poet, he was also a known social worker from Karnataka. He was fondly known as the 'Kabir of South'.

Bagalkote: Padma Shri award-winning singer Ibrahim Sutara passed away due to a heart attack on Saturday morning. He was 82.

As per sources, Sutara died at 6:30 am this morning. Besides being a singer, he was also a known social worker from Karnataka. He was nicknamed the "Kabir of South". Born in the year 1940 at Mahalingpur in Bagalkot district in a family of limited means, Sutar studied till class 3.

In the year 1970, he set up Harmony Folk Music Mela, a team of artists and started performing devotional singing, spiritual discourses across Karnataka and neighbouring states. He was conferred with the Padma Shri in 2018 and also awarded Rajyotsava Award in the year 1995.

In the year 1988, Sutar had played a significant role in building a 9-km road with the help of Shegunashi villagers in Athani taluk of Karnataka's Belgaum District on having learnt about the tragic death of two children as they could not be rushed to the hospital on time, due to the lack of proper road connectivity.

He then created awareness among villagers to raise funds and work on the road through ‘shrama dana’. Within a few weeks, the road was ready and the local administration even sanctioned a bus service to the tiny village.