Hailed as one of UK's top 5 Punjabi Female Artists, Unsigned World Music Artist, Singer Songwriter Composer & Producer, Sonia Panesar, boasts versatility, confidence and individuality, fusing a variety of music and singing styles creating the perfect masterpiece for her melodious songs.

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THE EARLY YEARS

Sonia began her musical journey at the tender age of 4 years as her mother introduced her to the phenomenon. Sonia started by learning to sing and to play the harmonium through Indian classical training; her first mentor being her own mother.  Over a period of 16 years, Sonia continued to train from Darshan Kaur Soor, Late Gian Singh Surjit, Late Jagjit S. Dheeraj & Giani Subhag Singh.  Sonia learnt to play the Violin and also joined a local Youth Orchestra.  Sonia also learnt to play Tabla alongside her younger brother, now a World renowned Indian percussionist, Bobby Panesar.  Together they performed and gained vast musical theory knowledge in Tabla, Voice and Harmonium received through accredited music exam boards.  Alongside her immense training, Sonia became increasingly popular in the UK Asian Music industry as a chorus vocalist. Thanks to her maternal uncle already established in the music biz, MBE Kuljit Bhamra, Sonia was presented with her first recording opportunity at the age of 7 years.

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THE JOURNEY

Sonia has performed as a chorus vocalist on over thirty albums for established and emerging artists in the UK Asian Music Industry working closely with MBE Kuljit Bhamra, Kumar of Heera, Premi, Alaap, Jazzy B, Sukshinder Shinda, Mona, Sangeeta, PDM and many more.

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After her father passed away in 1998, Sonia felt she did not want to continue training, instead, she wanted to discover her own vocal and singing style, prompting her to begin the next phase of her musical journey.

Sonia, along with her Mother and brother, privately released two religious albums in memory of her late father, Ardaas Volume 1 and 2 for which over £3000 were raised in aid of McMillan Cancer Research.

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Sonia’s self exploration lead her to the British Asian community radio stations where she trained as a presenter and was very much involved in commercial production and engineering.  It was here that she sang on the airwaves as part of her grand finale of one her specialist shows that she was picked up by a local DJ and budding producer known as The Senator.  Sonia’s singing career excelled after her first breakthrough into the UK Bhangra Industry, singing ‘Naina’ and "Kulli' on The Senator’s album, No Way Out. Since her breakthrough, she now possesses a spectacular catalogue of songs displaying her semi-classical vocal ability and great potential to be a universal star.  Her collaborations with Phat Kat, SWAMI, Djinn, The Dhol Foundation, Alpha & Omega, Punjabi Hit Squad, Ajay Srivastav of BOTOWN and many more have proved her one of the most versatile British Asian female vocalists in the UK.

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Sonia has also appeared as a playback vocalist for the improvised soundtrack ‘Yaaden’ for the independently produced film, The Winter Of Love, directed by Shakila Taranum Maan which released March 2011. The same year, she continued to perform alongside The 515 Crew (band) at asian underground/fusion events, folk festivals, and also collaborated with Turkish singer Hakan Bilal in a world music fusion duet called 'Your Face'. 

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In 2012, Sonia penned the lyrics and created the melodious love song 'Dil Ki Baatein', for Chirag Rao and the 515 crew.

Sonia then collaborated with Flute That Groove, with whom she was able to re-ignite her passion for semi-classical music through Shabad Gurbani. 

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TODAY

Sonia is currently growing her UK audience as lead singer and co-founder of Team Sur Sangeet - Punjabi Folk band with a contemporary twist.

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Sonie is also back in the producer hot seat mixing audio, playing in midi instruments, supervising producers and artists, composing melodies and arranging songs too!

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Now hailed as Best Punjabi Female Singer in the UK (2022), Sonia is working towards a conveyor belt of releases, as she prepares to excel her recording career to the next level.