Abida Parveen

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.

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 had appeared in various Indian and Pakistani music reality shows, including Pakistan Idol, Chhote Ustaad, and STAR Voice of India.

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.

She received her musical training initially from her father, Ustad Ghulam Haider, whom she refers to as Baba Sain and Gawwaya.

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.

[17][18] Her 1988 performance in Chicago was recorded by the Hazrat Amir Khusrau Society of Art and Culture, which issued an LP of her songs.

Recently, Abida also performed at the grand finale of the Sindh Festival, arranged by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in Thatta.

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.

[18] The couple has two daughters, Pereha Ikram and Maryam Hussain, and a son, Sarang Latif, who is a music director.

She owns the Abida Parveen Gallery, which features jewellery, paintings, her music CDs, an awards section, and garments and accessories.

She is always accompanied by an Ajrak, a Sindhi shawl, which she claims comes from the dargah (mausoleum) of Sufi saint Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, and her wardrobe is full of it.

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.

Parveen at her concert in Oslo , 2007
Parveen with the Pushto singer Fazal Malik Akif in Manchester, 1994.