ABIDA PARVEEN (Mystic and folk singer)

Abida parveen, a great mystic and folk singer of Pakistan, was born on 20^th of Feb 1954 at muhalla Ali Goharabad larkana. She was keen to sing since her childhood.She was leading promoter of mystical songs. She got singing in her heritage. Her mother, Mumtaz Begum, was a good artist and her father was expert musician who was also her teacher. She learnt the music firstly from Ghulam Haider, Later on from Ustad Salamat Ali. After that she joined her father’s institute for further training.A very famous producer of Pakistan Ghulam Hussain sheikh was her husband whose efforts won her success in the field of music. She was introduced at Radio Pakistan Hyderabad where she started her carrier with her first song “Tuhinjey zulf je bund kumand widha” (In Sindhi Language), which was broadcasted in 1973. Besides singing in Sindhi, she is at par excellence in Urdu, Siraki and Multani languages. People of Sindh titled her as “Raag ji Rani” (Queen of Music). She is expert in singing ghazal and kafi. Her style of singing Kafis (mysticals songs) is such that the listeners can not control themselves and dance like lunatics. She has performed at all over the country as well as abroad. She sings in the URS of many saints of sindh. It should be noted that there is no any singer of her caliber in 20^th century. She has received following awards: Presidential Award, Shah Abdul Latif Award, Laiq Latif Award, Sachal Award, Shahbaz Award and other distinctions.She has been considered as supreme Sufi vocalist of modern era.She has also joined world famous pakistani Tv Show “Coke studio”.She has two children Priya and Sarang.During 2005, she received Sitara-i-Imtiaz by President of Pakistan.