Canadian filmmaker Baljit Sangra loves telling diasporic stories. Her 2019 documentary, Because We Are Girls, focuses on three sisters of Punjabi ancestry who bravely disclose sexual abuse by a relative in Williams Lake. It was nominated for three Leo Awards. Her next feature-length documentary—Mareya Shot, Keetha Goal: Make the Shot—features hockey players of Punjabi ancestry hoping to break into the National Hockey League. It recently won the Best B.C. Film award at the Sundar Prize Film Festival.
Now, Sangra is back with a feature-length documentary about a Canadian jazz singer, Judy Singh, whose dad was a Punjabi immigrant and whose mom was a Black woman born in the United States. The Reelworld Film Festival + Summit will present the Toronto premiere of Have You Heard Judi Singh? at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday (October 18).
Sangra’s intersectional film has its origins in an online article. She was working late one night when she came across the piece, which had the words “Why did Edmonton forget Judi Singh?” in the headline.
“So, I read the article and that prompted me to check her out on YouTube, go to my Spotify, and search Judi Singh.” Sangra tells the Toronto Spark by phone. “I went, ‘Wow, she’s really good. How come I have never heard of this woman?’ ”
Sangra was so blown away by Singh’s talent that she decided to make a film about her. She contacted another filmmaker, Brishkay Ahmed (Fatima in Kabul, In the Room), who agreed to be her producer.
“She read it and got it right away why this was an important story for us to tell,” Sangra says.
Sangra intrigued by Singh’s family history
Singh rose to prominence in the 1960s in Edmonton, which was a hotbed for Canadian jazz. She performed on several CBC TV shows, often alongside her then husband, guitarist Lenny Breau. In 1970, Singh recorded her first full-length album, A Time for Love, with Edmonton jazz composer and pianist Tommy Banks. Then eight years later, she sang and wrote songs on Woody Shaw’s Grammy-nominated Rosewood album.
“I thought that she deserved her spotlight,” Sangra says. “She was on a few records; she toured; she got an opportunity to work with Woody Shaw. And he’s a master trumpet player and composer.”
Sangra was intrigued by Singh’s family history, which is covered extensively in the film. The singer’s father, Sohan Singh, immigrated to Canada from Punjab in 1907. Her mother, Effie, was the daughter of a former slave from Mississippi who settled with other Black families in the Amber Valley north of Edmonton. Effie worshipped and sang gospel music at the Shiloh Church, which welcomed Sohan and other Sikh men into the congregation.
“Their relationship wasn’t an anomaly,” Sangra notes. “There were others that married Black women. Also, at that time, immigration was very restricted.”
Have You Heard Judi Singh? brings the singer’s story alive with a multitude of interviews of friends and family members, including Singh’s daughter Emily Hughes, family friend Rae Dawn Chong, and broadcaster Holger Petersen. Sangra also includes an astonishing collection of archival photographs, as well as plenty of video footage from the ’60s and ’70s featuring Singh’s pitch-perfect singing.
“We’ve got over 30 songs,” Sangra says. “Mostly when I’ve done films, I’ve either had a composer or I’ve bought a few songs. So, this was a tall order for our cost. I have a lot of respect for people who do music documentaries or films.”
Poushali Mitra’s research opened the door
Have You Heard Judi Singh? offers a fascinating glimpse into a little-known aspect of Canadian history—how Punjabi and Black pioneers supported one another in northern Alberta.
However, Sangra and Ahmed could never have made their film were it not for Poushali Mitra, a former equity and inclusion adviser for the Edmonton Arts Council.
Back in 2020, Mitra wondered if any Edmonton musicians in the 1970s traced their family roots back to the Indian subcontinent. So, she went to Google for the answer, searching for “Singh + artist + 70s” because so many Punjabi immigrants are named Singh. The following year, Mitra acknowledged in a trailblazing article for the Edmonton City as a Museum Project that she was “sweetly surprised to find Judi Singh’s profile on Google and YouTube”.
“What attracted me was her last name and her being Black,” Mitra wrote. “My unconscious bias had led me to think for a few seconds that she would look like me—a brown South Asian woman.”
Mitra’s in-depth article inspired the CBC and others to match the story, and Sangra includes her in the film.
In 2021, Singh died in Victoria before the filmmaker had a chance to meet her.
“I hope we did Judi proud,” Sangra says.
Watch the trailer (above) for Have You Heard Judi Singh?
The Reelworld Film Festival + Summit will present the Toronto premiere of Have You Heard Judi Singh? at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday (October 18) at the Paradise Theatre (1006 Bloor Street West). For tickets and more information, visit the festival website.
Learn more about the communities that make up Canada on the Toronto Spark website. The Toronto Spark is on Bluesky @torontospark.bsky.social.
