UP, CLOSE & PERSONAL: Queen of Sufi Singers - Abida Praveen

FOREMOST EXPONENTS OF SOULFUL SINGING HAS TOUCHED MY INNER SOUL...

The moment I reach the foot hills of Himalaya, the soulful Sufi songs of Abida Praveen turns into a pulsating sphere of earth colors, submerging all my consciousness into the vast sea of joy and happiness. The effect of her songs, the words of Sufi saints and the pure mountain air of Himalaya is such that all my worldly worries retreat into oblivion and only the ‘now’ exists, to be cherished as in eternity. The queen of Sufi Songs, Abida Praveen, remains to be my favorite of all times and when the chance came to meet her and hear her soulful singing, I was blissful.

Abida Praveen at Music Academy in Chennai

Abida Praveen : A brief note

Abida Parveen (born 1954) is a Pakistani singer of Sindhi descent and one of the foremost exponents of Sufi music (Sufiana kalaam). She sings mainly ghazals and her forte, Kafis, a solo genre accompanied by percussion and harmonium, using a repertoire of songs by Sufi poets. Parveen sings in Urdu, Sindhi, Saraiki, Punjabi and Persian, and together with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is considered one of the finest Sufi vocalists of the modern era.

Abida Praveen with her Group of Musicians... 

Abida performed on the internationally acclaimed Pakistani show Coke Studio, on which she sang three songs, including Ramooz-e-Ishq, Nigah-e-Darwaishaan, and Soz-e-Ishq

A legend both at home and abroad for her grace and soulful Sufi strains, Parveen over the years has stayed true to her classical origins, which she mastered under the tutelage of Ustad Salamat Ali Khan. Having started off her career from Radio Pakistan, Hyderabad, she credits her husband, late Ghulam Hussain Sheikh, a respected director of music at Radio Pakistan, for its success. A recipient of the 1982 President's Pride of Performance Award and the 2005 Sitara-e-Imtiaz, Parveen is indeed one of the foremost exponents of kaafi poetry and ghazal singing in Pakistan.

Text Curtsy: Wikipedia, Click here to read more
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Here is one of her sound at the Coke Studio and hope you will enjoy her singing as deeply within as I do.

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Shashi

ॐ नमः शिवाय

Om Namah Shivaya

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