Abida Parveen is a Pakistani Sufi singer, composer, musician, painter and entrepreneur. She is popularly known as the “Queen of Sufi Music”. She sings in several languages including Urdu, Sindhi, Saraki, Punjabi, Arabic and Persian.
Wiki/Biography
Abida Parveen was born on Saturday, February 20, 1954 in Mohalla Ali Goharabad, Larkana, Sindh Province, Pakistan (age 65 years 2019). Her zodiac sign is Pisces. She received her musical training from her father, Ustad Ghulam Haider, and attended his music school. She also trained under Ustad Salamat Ali Khan of Sham Chaurasia Gharana. She earned her master’s degree from Sindh and also studied Hindi, Urdu and Barsi languages.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′4″
Eye color: black
Hair color: black
family, caste and husband
She comes from a Muslim family. Her father, Ustad Ghulam Haider, was a singer and music teacher. She has two brothers. In 1975, she married Ghulam Hussain Sheikh (senior producer of Radio Pakistan). Her husband died of a heart attack on an international flight in the early 2000s.
Abida Parveen and her husband
She has two daughters, Pereha Ikram and Mariam Hussain, both entrepreneurs. She also has a son named Sarang Latif who is a music director.
Abida Parveen and her daughter Mariam
Abida Parveen and her son Sarang Latif
Profession
She sang her first kalam when she was only 3 years old and started singing commercially at the age of six. In the early 1970s, she began performing in Dargahs and Urs.
Abida Parveen sings in Dargah
In 1973, she sang the song “Tuhinje Zulfan Jay Band Kamand Widha” for Radio Pakistan. In 1977, she was announced as the official singer of Radio Pakistan. She made her television debut in 1980 in Sultana Siddiqui’s Awaz-o-Andaz. Her first work was “Aandhi Chali To Naqsh-e-Kaf-e-Pa Nahi Mila” composed by Mustafa Zaidi.
Since then, she has created many kalam compositions. She frequently travels abroad for tours and concerts. She has never sung for any films, but her pre-recorded songs have been included in many films. Her first song to appear in a film was “Sajjan de Haath”; it appeared in the Pakistani film “Zill-e-Shah” (2008). She sang the “Yaar ko Humne” OST from the Pakistani television series “Shehr-e-Zaat (2012)”. She released her first album “Ji Sindhi Mehfil” in 1981.
Her most famous album is “Raqs-e-Bismil” released in 2001.
Abida’s most famous works include the song “Yaar ko Humne” from the album “Raqs-e-Bismil”, the song “Jab Se Tune Mujhe” from the album “Ghazal ka Safar” and the cover of Bulleh Shah’s song “Tere Ishq Nachaya” 》. poetry.
Awards and Honors
- 1984 Award of Merit for Performance by President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq
- Sitara-e-Imtiaz Award 2005 by President Pervez Musharraf
- Hilal-e-Imtiaz Award 2012 by President Asif Ali Zardari
- Wonder Woman 2013
- In 2014, Larkana Sindhi Singers Association awarded the Golden Crown for 40 Glorious Years in the Music Industry
- Pakistani diplomat Javed Malik conferred Ambassador’s Recognition Award in Dubai in 2015
Abida Parveen receives Ambassador’s Recognition Award
- Award-winning Dhaka International Folk Festival 2015
- Awarded by politician Sharmila Farooqi at the 2nd International Sufi Congress
- 2016 BBC Asia Network host Saima Ajram presented Lifetime Achievement Award
TV and film awards
- Won the PTV Award in 2011
Abida Parveen wins PTV award
- The 2014 movie “Ishq Khuda” won the ARY Film Award for Best Playback Singer
- PTV Awards 2012 “Legendary” Category
- 2015 Hum Music Excellence Awards
- 2016 Lux Style Awards Best Female Singer (Film)
favorite thing
- Food: Karela Gosht, Beh Qeema, Bhindi
- Actors: Nadeem Baig Muhammad Ali
- Poets: Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, Buleh Shah, Rumi, Kabir Das
- TV Show: “Little House on the Prairie” (1974-1983)
- Book: Abyaat by Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai
fact
- Abida received her musical training from her father. She calls her father “Baba Sain and Gawwaya”. She and her father once performed together at a shrine for Sufi poets. Seeing her talent, her father chose Abida as his musical heir when she was five years old over his two sons.
- Abida spent much of her childhood singing and studying music, avoiding household chores. Her mother always argued about why she wasn’t cooking or cleaning, and her father always stepped in and said her daughter wouldn’t work at home. She was engrossed in music, never went out to play, and sat with her father all day long.
- During her childhood, Abida had no friends and no one liked to play with her. Her only friend is Subhan.
- Abida plays pump organ, keyboards, harmonium and sitar.
Abida Parveen plays organ
- She calls her daughter “Mom.”
- She mainly sings Ghazals, Thumri, Khyal, Qawwali, Raga (Raag), Sufi rock, classical and semi-classical music. Her forte, however, is Kafis, a solo genre accompanied by percussion and organ that uses song repertoire from Sufi poets.
- Her husband, Ghulam Hussain Sheikh, quit his job to manage and direct Abida’s career. After his death, her daughter Mariam took over the role, and her career thereafter took more of a commercial route.
- She has her own unique clothing style that she created herself. She wore a simple long dress buttoned up to her neck and a jacket over it. Along with this, she also carries an ‘Ajarak’, a Sindhi dupatta. She claimed that her Ajarak came from the dargah (tomb) of Sufi saint Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai.
- Abida Parveen collaborated with Shehzad Roy for the song “Zindagi”, which dealt with the social issues faced by children.
- In 1988, her performance in Chicago was recorded by the Hazrat Amir Khusrau Arts and Cultural Association and released as an LP of her songs.
- In 2002, she went to India to record the album “Faiz”. There she happened to meet Lata Mangeshkar, who was recording in a room at Western Indoors. Talking about the incident, she said –
I was recording in one room at Western In-door Studios and when I came to know that Lata Mangeshkar was also recording in another room, I went to meet her. After Didi found out about my existence, she brought her whole family to visit me. She sat for a long time talking to me about various topics and when someone asked how a great singer like her could praise a Pakistani singer like me, she just said: “Real gold always shines!” From such a legend. The artist’s praise is touching. “
Abida Parveen and Lata Mangeshkar
- She has shared the stage with legendary singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan many times. Talking about Nusrat, she said –
He is one of the few Indian and Pakistani artists who knows how to sing to Mayfair. How to sing ghazal, qawwali, kafi or sargam on stage in front of thousands of people in an engaging way so that everyone in the audience understands the nuances is not a simple task Art, but he was a master of it. “
- In the 1990s, Parveen licensed her spiritual Ghazals to Bollywood as her spiritual brother Khan had recorded songs for Bollywood.
- She also appeared in seasons one, three, five, seven and nine of the Coca-Cola Studios show. Talking about her experience on the show, she said –
This project started by Rohail Hyatt is really great and I would like to be a part of it for a long time. The music produced by this project touches the heart and soul and it always compliments the lyrics without overstepping the true message of Kalam. This platform is built on the messages of our Sufi elders. “
- On November 28, 2010, she suffered a heart attack while performing at a music event in Lahore. She then had to undergo angioplasty and angiography.
- In December 2012, she started her own business “Abida Parveen Gallerie”. The gallery is run by her daughters and displays her awards, fan achievements, music records, jewelry, paintings and designer clothes for sale. The AP Gallery also houses a music recording studio.
Abida Parvin Gallery
- In 2016, she collaborated with the Canadian Orchestra and the Indian music duo Salim-Sulaiman to create a special song “Noor-e-Illahi”, which was released on Eid.
- Apart from singing in Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi and Persian, she also sang the famous Nepali song “Ukali Orali Haruma” at a concert in Kathmandu, Nepal.
- In 2017, Abida Parveen was appointed as the Peace Ambassador of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
- In 2012, she served as a judge on the singing reality show “Sur Shetra” along with Runa Laila and Asha Bhosle. The show is a musical battle between Pakistani and Indian singers, captained by Atif Aslam and Himesh Reshammiya respectively.
- Abida took the “Bayyat” (pledge of allegiance to the leader) and became a disciple of Sultan Naguib.
- Asked whether the Pakistani government views Sufism and its music as a means to improve Pakistan’s image abroad, Abida said:
Pakistan seems cut off from the outside world. But it was established and run with the prayers of our Sufi King, our Pir. Poor, rich – we are all servants of God… I am blessed. My audience is my god. “
- She has given numerous concerts and tours internationally. It was reported that at one of her concerts, a large number of people in the audience began crying uncontrollably. Likewise, at another of her concerts, people fainted. Emergency crews revived them, but they refused to leave because they wanted to see the full concert.
- During a performance in Bahrain, she received gifts and jewelry from the audience, after which she stood up and said:
This is worldliness. I have nothing to do with it. This doesn’t interest me. “
- In 2013, she sang “Pilgrimage” by the famous British composer John Taverner at the Manchester International Music Festival.
- In 2019, she launched the YouTube series ‘Bazm-e-Rang’, which featured artists like Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Atif Aslam, Khamaj and more. The play marks the directorial debut of her son Saran Latif.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education