| Honorific Suffix: | NI HI SI PP | ||||||||||
| Native Name Lang: | ur | ||||||||||
| Birth Date: | 1954 2, df=y | ||||||||||
| Birth Place: | Larkana, Sindh, Pakistan | ||||||||||
| Module: |
| ||||||||||
Abida Parveen (; ; born 20 February 1954)[1] [2] is a Pakistani singer, composer, and musician of Sufi music. She is also a painter and an entrepreneur. Parveen is one of the highest- paid singers in Pakistan.[3] 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.[4] 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[5] 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.[6] 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.[7] Parveen sings in Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, Arabic, and Persian.[8] [9] [10] 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.[11] She was bestowed Pakistan's second highest civilian award, Hilal-e-Imtiaz, in 2012[12] and the highest civilian award, Nishan-e-Imtiaz, in March 2021, by the President of Pakistan.[13]
Parveen was born in Ali Goharabad, Larkana, Sindh, Pakistan. She received her musical training initially from her father, Ustad Ghulam Haider, whom she refers to as Baba Sain and Gawwaya. He had his own musical school, where Parveen got her devotional inspiration . She and her father would often perform at shrines of Sufi saints. Parveen's talent compelled her father to choose her as his musical heir over his two sons. Growing up, she attended her father's music school, where her foundation in music was laid.[14] [15] Later, Ustad Salamat Ali Khan of the Sham Chaurasia gharana also taught and nurtured her. Parveen always remembers that she was never forced into this occupation, and she sang her first complete kalam when she was only 3 years old.
Parveen had already begun performing at Dargahs and Urs in the early 1970s, but it was in 1973, on Radio Pakistan, that she achieved her first real breakthrough with the Sindhi song Tuhinje zulfan jay band kamand widha. In 1977, she was introduced as an official singer on Radio Pakistan. Since then, Parveen has risen to prominence and is now considered one of the finest vocal artists in Pakistan. She has imbued Sufi music with a new identity, marking the beginning of this journey at Sultana Siddiqui's Awaz-o-Andaz in 1980.
Parveen travels internationally, often performing at sold-out venues.[16] [17] Her 1988 performance in Chicago was recorded by the Hazrat Amir Khusrau Society of Art and Culture, which issued an LP of her songs. Her 1989 performance in London's Wembley Conference Centre was broadcast on the BBC. Parveen cites her motivation for international travel as being to spread Sufism, peace, and the divine message. In doing so, she also promotes Pakistani culture.
In the 1990s, Parveen licensed her spiritual ghazals to Bollywood, since her "spiritual brother", Khan, recorded songs for Bollywood. Recently, Abida also performed at the grand finale of the Sindh Festival, arranged by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in Thatta.[18]
Parveen began performing on the internationally acclaimed Pakistani show Coke Studio in 2010. She sang three songs: "Ramooz-e-Ishq", "Nigah-e-Darwaishaan", and "Soz-e-Ishq" in episodes 1 (reason), 3 (conception), and 5 (realisation), respectively of season 3. Parveen said she admired the programme because it offered a Dargahi environment. She commented:[24]
"This project, which Rohail Hyatt has started, is indeed great, and I would like to be a part of it for a long time. The music that comes out of this project reaches both the heart and the soul, and it always complements the lyrics without overriding the true message of the kalams. This platform builds on those messages of our Sufi elders."
She was invited back to season 7 in 2014. She sang "Mein Sufi Hoon" with Rais Khan and performed "dost" as a solo. She also performed "Chaap Tilak" (a popular Sufi poem by Sufi poet Amir Khusro) in a duet with Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.
Abida was also part of season 9. Her first song, along with other artists in the season, "Ae Rah Haq K Shaheedo", was dedicated to the war martyrs.[5] After that, she sang a duet with Ali Sethi titled "Aaqa", then sang a solo titled "Maula-i-Kull".
She also performed in season 14, singing "Tu Jhoom" with Naseebo Lal.
Abida got her master's degree from Sindh and also learned Urdu, Sindhi, and Persian specifically.
In 1975, Abida married Ghulam Hussain Sheikh, senior producer at Radio Pakistan, who had retired from his job in the 1980s to manage and mentor Parveen's career. After he died of a heart attack on an international flight in the early 2000s, their daughter Maryam took up that role. There is a sense that Parveen's career has taken a more commercial route as a result of it.[17] The couple has two daughters, Pereha Ikram and Maryam Hussain, and a son, Sarang Latif, who is a music director. All three children act as her advisors.[16] Her family understands her need for riyaz (daily vocal music practice) and the required space to do that practice.[26]
Parveen is also interested in the arts. She owns the Abida Parveen Gallery, which features jewellery, paintings, her music CDs, an awards section, and garments and accessories. It is run by her daughters.[27] She also has her own music recording studio there.
Parveen has a distinctive clothing style that she has created herself for ease and comfort. She wears long, simple frocks buttoned up to the top with loose arms with or without cuffs and covered with a coat. She is always accompanied by an Ajrak, a Sindhi shawl, which she claims comes from the Sindhi: dargah (mausoleum) of Sufi saint Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, and her wardrobe is full of it.
Parveen has taken Bayyat and became a disciple of Najeeb Sultan, her spiritual master. Parveen suffered a heart attack during a performance in Lahore on 28 November 2010.[28] Angiography and angioplasty were performed on her. She regained her health soon after.
Despite Parveen's renown, she has never sung for the cinema industry; her existing work has been repurposed and used in films, however, at the insistence of proponents such as Farooq Mengal. Parveen revealed in interviews that she has received offers from Bollywood filmmakers such as Subhash Ghai and Yash Chopra. Shah Rukh Khan requested that she sing in Ra.One, as did music director A.R.Rehman.[32] Parveen declines these offers on account of her Sufi faith and the commitments that it requires.[33]
| Year | Show | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Awaz-o-Andaz | Performer | aired on PTV | |
| 2009 | Nara-e-Mastana | Performer | Concert sponsored and aired by Hum | |
| 2010 | Chotte Ustad | Guest Judge with Ghulam Ali | Eid Celebration | |
| 2012 | Sur Kshetra TV Show | Judge | Representing Pakistan in India | |
| 2012 | Shehr-e-Zaat | OST Singer for Yaar ko Humne | Pre-recorded from album Raqs-e-Bismil | |
| 2012 | Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa | Special appearance with Runa Laila | To promote Sur Kshetra TV Show | |
| 2012 | 1st Hum Awards | Performer | Sang Naraye Mastana | |
| 2014 | Pakistan Idol TV Show | Guest Judge | Grand Finale | |
| 2014 | Zee Channel | TV Singer | New Channel | |
| 2014 | Sama-e-Ishq | Performer | Concert aired on Hum TV |
| Year | Film | Song | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Viruddh | Mann Lago Yaar Bhala Hua Meri Saahib Mera Ek | From her album "Kabir by Abida" | |
| 2008 | Zill-e-Shah | Sajjan de Haath | Pre-recorded | |
| 2013 | Ishq Khuda | Title Track | Pre-recorded Winner-1st ARY Film Awards for Best Female Playback Singer | |
| 2015 | Jaanisaar | Sufiye Ba Safa Manam (female) | Indian film by Muzaffar Ali | |
| 2015 | Bin Roye | Maula Maula | with Zeb Bangash Winner-15th Lux Style Awards for Best Female Playback Singer | |
| 2017 | Rangreza | Phool Khil Jayein | with Asrar (musician) |
See main article: Abida Parveen discography.