Abida Parveen

Abida Parveen
عابده پروين
Abida Parveen in 2016
Born (1954-02-20) 20 February 1954 (age 70)
Other names
  • Living legend of Pakistan
  • Queen of Sufi music[1]
Occupations
  • Singer
  • musician
  • entrepreneur
  • composer
Musical career
OriginPakistan
Genres
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • harmonium
  • percussions
Years active1973–present
LabelsCoke studio, PTV, etc
Websiteabidaparveen.com.pk

Abida Parveen (Sindhi: عابده پروين; Urdu: عابدہ پروین; born 20 February 1954)[2][3] is a Pakistani singer, composer, musician of Sufi music, painter and an entrepreneur. Parveen is one of the highest-paid singers in Pakistan.[4] Her singing and music have earned her many accolades, and she has been dubbed the Queen of Sufi music.

Born and raised in Larkana into a Sindhi Sufi family, she was trained by her father, Ustad Ghulam Haider, who was a famous singer and music teacher. She plays the Pump organ, Keyboard, and Sitar. Parveen started performing in the early 1970s and came into global prominence in the 1990s. Since 1993, Parveen has toured globally, performing her first international concert at Buena Park, California.[5] She has also performed in Churches, several times. Parveen features in Pakistan's popular musical show Coke Studio and was a judge on the pan-South Asia contest show Sur Kshetra[6] alongside Runa Laila and Asha Bhosle, hosted by Ayesha Takia. She had appeared in various Indian and Pakistani music reality shows, including Pakistan Idol, Chhote Ustaad, and STAR Voice of India. Parveen is among The 500 Most Influential Muslims in the world and has the power to induce hysteria in her audience. She is a "Global Mystic Sufi Ambassador". In the last few years, she has sung in a Pepsi commercial, collaborating with Atif Aslam for this.

Parveen is regularly referred to as one of the world's greatest mystic singers.[7] She sings mainly ghazals, thumri, khyal, qawwali, raga (raag), Sufi rock, classical and semi-classical music, and her speciality, kafi, a solo genre accompanied by percussion and harmonium, using a repertoire of songs by Sufi poets.[8] Parveen sings in Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, Arabic, and Persian.[9][10][11] Parveen notably sang a famous song in Nepali language called "Ukali Orali Haruma", originally by Nepali singer Tara Devi, in a concert in Kathmandu, Nepal, and in 2017, she was designated a 'Peace Ambassador' by SAARC.

Parveen is best known for singing in an impassioned, loud voice, especially on the songs Yaar ko Humne from the album Raqs-e-Bismil and Tere Ishq Nachaya, which is a rendition of Bulleh Shah's poetry.[12] She was bestowed Pakistan's second highest civilian award, Hilal-e-Imtiaz, in 2012[13] and the highest civilian award, Nishan-e-Imtiaz, in March 2021, by the President of Pakistan.[14]

  1. ^ "Abida Parveen, the Queen of Sufi music talks to Saima Ajram about her career, her childhood and her thoughts on the month of Ramadhan". BBC RADIO ASIAN NETWORK. 14 July 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  2. ^ "Abida Parveen: The Soul of Sufi Music". Global Village Space. 20 February 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  3. ^ Iqbal, Nosheen (8 July 2013). "Abida Parveen: 'I'm not a man or a woman, I'm a vehicle for passion'". The Guardian (newspaper). Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  4. ^ "You can't listen to them if you can't afford them…". The Express Tribune. 14 July 2017. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  5. ^ EPSTEIN, BENJAMIN (18 September 1993). "Cleansing Soul Singer Has Purification Motives : Music: Abida Parveen of Pakistan tries to spread a message of love and induce a state of spiritual ecstasy with her Sufi mystic songs". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  6. ^ Images Staff (8 August 2016). "Amjad Sabri, Rahat Fateh, Abida Parveen kick-start Coke Studio 9 with an emotional tribute". Pakistan: Dawn. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  7. ^ Madhumita Dutta (2008). Let's Know Music and Musical Instruments of India. Star Publications. p. 56. ISBN 9781905863297.
  8. ^ Culshaw, Peter (14 September 2001). "Singer with the knock-out effect". The Telegraph. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  9. ^ Neil Strauss (15 October 1996). "Ecstasy In Songs Of the Sufi". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  10. ^ Mary Talbot (11 October 1996). "MYSTICAL SINGER'S MUSIC IS THE MESSAGE". Daily News. Archived from the original on 5 April 2010. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  11. ^ Abida Parveen World music: the basics, by Richard Nidel. Routledge, 2005. ISBN 0-415-96800-3. p.247.
  12. ^ Anna S. King, J. L. Brockington (2005). The Intimate Other: Love Divine in Indic Religions. Orient Blackswan. p. 358. ISBN 9788125028017.
  13. ^ "Abida Parveen's Hilal-i-Imtiaz Award (2012)". The Express Tribune (newspaper). Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  14. ^ "Abida Parveen, Faisal Edhi among 88 conferred civil awards by President Alvi". Dawn. 23 March 2021. Retrieved 24 March 2021.