(Hindustani vocal)
With harmonium, tabla (percussion) & tanpura accompaniment
‘She has risen to be the Queen of Hindustani Music’ (Kerala Kaumudi)
Photos: Darbar South Asian Music Festival
Begum Parveen Sultana
ranks today as one of the foremost classical vocalists in India. A
child prodigy, she was the youngest artist to receive the Padmashri
award, in 1972, from the Government of India.
She received her early training from her father Janab Ikramul Majid and her grandfather Mohammed Najeef Khan. Both were ardent music lovers and their nurturing of her talent at an early age enabled her to give her first recital at the tender age of twelve at the Sadarang Music Conference in Calcutta. She became a child prodigy and from then on, there has been no looking back! Her father then put her under the guidance of renowned maestro Late Acharya Chinmoy Lahiri of Calcutta.
In 1973, Parveen Sultana found the Guru who further laid down a much deeper foundation that gave a new dimension to her singing, giving it the required mastery of ragas and voice culture that would expand her range to three and a half octaves, the internationally known Maestro Sangeet Martand Ustad Dilshad Khan of the Kirana gharana, her Guru and husband.
Parveen Sultana was trained according to the Patiala Gharana (School of Music), but with Ustadji’s guidance the essence of other Gharanas flowed into her music. She handles, with utter ease, a simple raga as well as a complicated one, moving from the slow Alaap to the swift Taans and Bol Taans, her immense confidence highlighting the most beautiful essence of the raga. Whether she sings a Khyal, Thumri or Bhajan, she keeps the form in its pristine purity.
Many awards have come her way: the Padmashree (1976), the youngest recipient of this award, ‘Cleopatra of Music’ (1972), ‘Poetess of Music’ (1972), ‘Gandharva Kalanidhi’ (1980), ‘Mia Tansen’ (1986), ‘Sangeet Samragni’ from the Assam government (1994), Sangeet Natak Academy award (1999), Srimanta Shakar Dev award (2004), MTV’s Immies award (2004). She has been called the Melody Queen and has performed in major festivals and venues in India, USA, Europe and Australia.
Parveen Sultana has recorded for HMV, Polydor, Music India, Bharat Records, Auvidis, Magnasound, Sonodisc, Amigo.
Hers is a matchless voice covering nearly four octaves with incredible virtuosity, outstanding musicality, tonal clarity and purity of voice and notes.
She received her early training from her father Janab Ikramul Majid and her grandfather Mohammed Najeef Khan. Both were ardent music lovers and their nurturing of her talent at an early age enabled her to give her first recital at the tender age of twelve at the Sadarang Music Conference in Calcutta. She became a child prodigy and from then on, there has been no looking back! Her father then put her under the guidance of renowned maestro Late Acharya Chinmoy Lahiri of Calcutta.
In 1973, Parveen Sultana found the Guru who further laid down a much deeper foundation that gave a new dimension to her singing, giving it the required mastery of ragas and voice culture that would expand her range to three and a half octaves, the internationally known Maestro Sangeet Martand Ustad Dilshad Khan of the Kirana gharana, her Guru and husband.
Parveen Sultana was trained according to the Patiala Gharana (School of Music), but with Ustadji’s guidance the essence of other Gharanas flowed into her music. She handles, with utter ease, a simple raga as well as a complicated one, moving from the slow Alaap to the swift Taans and Bol Taans, her immense confidence highlighting the most beautiful essence of the raga. Whether she sings a Khyal, Thumri or Bhajan, she keeps the form in its pristine purity.
Many awards have come her way: the Padmashree (1976), the youngest recipient of this award, ‘Cleopatra of Music’ (1972), ‘Poetess of Music’ (1972), ‘Gandharva Kalanidhi’ (1980), ‘Mia Tansen’ (1986), ‘Sangeet Samragni’ from the Assam government (1994), Sangeet Natak Academy award (1999), Srimanta Shakar Dev award (2004), MTV’s Immies award (2004). She has been called the Melody Queen and has performed in major festivals and venues in India, USA, Europe and Australia.
Parveen Sultana has recorded for HMV, Polydor, Music India, Bharat Records, Auvidis, Magnasound, Sonodisc, Amigo.
Hers is a matchless voice covering nearly four octaves with incredible virtuosity, outstanding musicality, tonal clarity and purity of voice and notes.
PRESS EXCERPTS
INDIA
‘Her matchless voice…held the audience spellbound’ (The Times of India)
‘We forget ourselves in the extraordinary and spiritual and blessed voice of Parveen Sultana. We do not need to think twice about her unrivalled position as one of the greats in terms of purity of voice’ (Kerala Kaumudi, India)
‘Her voice flowed like a light soothing breeze and the crowd was swayed by it’ (Mathru Bhoomi, India)
‘She has risen to be the Queen of Hindustani Music’ (Kerala Kaumudi)
‘Parveen Sultana is among the cognoscenti, the household word… it is the voice that seduces the listener into approval…’ (Indian Express, India)
‘Her voice rings out uninhibited, clear, strong and firm. The audience thunders its applause…. the ultimate Soprano.’ (Eve’s Weekly, India)
‘Now there is nothing her voice cannot do… the timbre, the sweep, the range soaring higher than even a third octave but remaining as clear and pleasant…her rendering of ragas has acquired a greater depth and variation especially under the guidance of Dilshad Khan’ (Indian Express)
‘And what an exquisite tunefulness attended her every note charged with feeling…at such superspeed and with such hairline accuracy that one felt (one) had not heard better (Times of India)
OUTSIDE INDIA
‘With a paradoxical mixture of abandon and control, she masterfully expressed those subtleties of human emotion which could only ever find their expression in music (London 1991)
‘Not since Ravi Shankar’s music took America by storm has the audience been treated to such a musical feast as Parveen’s music… the audience stood up applauding thunderously’ (News and Cine India Review, New York, USA)
‘As for her music credentials, they have been compared to that of Enrico Caruso. She makes the difficult art of classical music comprehensive, melodious and delightful’ (Tribune, London)
‘Breathtaking virtuosity over a range of four to five octaves…European music does not know anything comparable’ (Hamburg Abendblatt, Germany)
‘When people communicate by means of genuine art, they hardly need any interpreters. The old truth has been brilliantly confirmed by the triumphal tour of the Soviet Union of India popular performers Ustad Dilshad Khan and Begum Parveen Sultana’ (USSR Youth Times)
‘Unspoilt genius of Hindustani Music’ (India Weekly, London, 1997).
‘There was an ecstatic spiritual quality to her voice, from the first note to the last, it was a keening paean of devotion to beauty, light, love, and the Inner Self’ (Zameen, UK 1997)
‘The concert by Begum Sultana was magical! (Audience member, Royal Festival Hall (QEH), London 1997)
‘Begum Parveen Sultana est l’une des plus grandes vocalistes de musique hindoustani’ (Paris, France)
‘Deux grandes voix de l’Inde du Nord’ (Festival de Lille, France)
‘Her matchless voice…held the audience spellbound’ (The Times of India)
‘We forget ourselves in the extraordinary and spiritual and blessed voice of Parveen Sultana. We do not need to think twice about her unrivalled position as one of the greats in terms of purity of voice’ (Kerala Kaumudi, India)
‘Her voice flowed like a light soothing breeze and the crowd was swayed by it’ (Mathru Bhoomi, India)
‘She has risen to be the Queen of Hindustani Music’ (Kerala Kaumudi)
‘Parveen Sultana is among the cognoscenti, the household word… it is the voice that seduces the listener into approval…’ (Indian Express, India)
‘Her voice rings out uninhibited, clear, strong and firm. The audience thunders its applause…. the ultimate Soprano.’ (Eve’s Weekly, India)
‘Now there is nothing her voice cannot do… the timbre, the sweep, the range soaring higher than even a third octave but remaining as clear and pleasant…her rendering of ragas has acquired a greater depth and variation especially under the guidance of Dilshad Khan’ (Indian Express)
‘And what an exquisite tunefulness attended her every note charged with feeling…at such superspeed and with such hairline accuracy that one felt (one) had not heard better (Times of India)
OUTSIDE INDIA
‘With a paradoxical mixture of abandon and control, she masterfully expressed those subtleties of human emotion which could only ever find their expression in music (London 1991)
‘Not since Ravi Shankar’s music took America by storm has the audience been treated to such a musical feast as Parveen’s music… the audience stood up applauding thunderously’ (News and Cine India Review, New York, USA)
‘As for her music credentials, they have been compared to that of Enrico Caruso. She makes the difficult art of classical music comprehensive, melodious and delightful’ (Tribune, London)
‘Breathtaking virtuosity over a range of four to five octaves…European music does not know anything comparable’ (Hamburg Abendblatt, Germany)
‘When people communicate by means of genuine art, they hardly need any interpreters. The old truth has been brilliantly confirmed by the triumphal tour of the Soviet Union of India popular performers Ustad Dilshad Khan and Begum Parveen Sultana’ (USSR Youth Times)
‘Unspoilt genius of Hindustani Music’ (India Weekly, London, 1997).
‘There was an ecstatic spiritual quality to her voice, from the first note to the last, it was a keening paean of devotion to beauty, light, love, and the Inner Self’ (Zameen, UK 1997)
‘The concert by Begum Sultana was magical! (Audience member, Royal Festival Hall (QEH), London 1997)
‘Begum Parveen Sultana est l’une des plus grandes vocalistes de musique hindoustani’ (Paris, France)
‘Deux grandes voix de l’Inde du Nord’ (Festival de Lille, France)
SANGEET SAMRAGINI BEGUM PARVEEN SULTANA
PERFORMANCES, ACCLAIMS & ACCOLADES along with her Guru and husband Ustad Dilshad Khan
1. U.S.A.-1976
2. Afghanistan-1976
3. Summer Solstice Festival-1981 (U.S.A.)
4. Lille Festival-1984 (France)
5. Avignon Festival-1984 & Festival of India, France-1985
6. Carnegie Hall & Town Hall-1981 (U.S.A.)
7. Logan Hall-1991 (U.K.)
8. Queen Elizabeth Hall-1994 (U.K.)
9. Festival of India-1986 (U.S.S.R.)
10. Festival of India-1990 (Copenhagen)
11. Dubai-1994
12. Bahrain, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Denmark, Sweden.
13. Festival de Fès des Musiques Sacrées du Monde ( Fes World Sacred Musics Festival)-1998 (Morocco)
14. Adelaide Festival-1996 (Australia)
15. Canberra Festival-1996 (Australia)
16. Sydney Opera House Festival-1996 (Australia)
17. York Festival-1998 (U.K.)
18. Tchaikosky Auditorium, Kremlin Hall (Moscow), Chatelet/Les Halles (Paris), Laurenturn Auditorium, Wilshire Eleble Theatre(Los Angeles), Town Hall, Carnegie Hall(U.S.A.)
19. Theatre de la Ville (Paris)
20. Festival Of India (Sweden)
21. Invited to sing in the film “Krishna’s Story” made in USA, along with Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia & Ustad Zakir Hussain
22. Sang for the TV channel 13 of USA in 1981.
23. First North Indian Vocalist to be invited by the Carnatic Music Academy of North America in 1976
24. First Asian Vocalist after Pandit RaviShankar to perform on CNN T.V. channel (2001)
PERFORMANCES, ACCLAIMS & ACCOLADES along with her Guru and husband Ustad Dilshad Khan
1. U.S.A.-1976
2. Afghanistan-1976
3. Summer Solstice Festival-1981 (U.S.A.)
4. Lille Festival-1984 (France)
5. Avignon Festival-1984 & Festival of India, France-1985
6. Carnegie Hall & Town Hall-1981 (U.S.A.)
7. Logan Hall-1991 (U.K.)
8. Queen Elizabeth Hall-1994 (U.K.)
9. Festival of India-1986 (U.S.S.R.)
10. Festival of India-1990 (Copenhagen)
11. Dubai-1994
12. Bahrain, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Denmark, Sweden.
13. Festival de Fès des Musiques Sacrées du Monde ( Fes World Sacred Musics Festival)-1998 (Morocco)
14. Adelaide Festival-1996 (Australia)
15. Canberra Festival-1996 (Australia)
16. Sydney Opera House Festival-1996 (Australia)
17. York Festival-1998 (U.K.)
18. Tchaikosky Auditorium, Kremlin Hall (Moscow), Chatelet/Les Halles (Paris), Laurenturn Auditorium, Wilshire Eleble Theatre(Los Angeles), Town Hall, Carnegie Hall(U.S.A.)
19. Theatre de la Ville (Paris)
20. Festival Of India (Sweden)
21. Invited to sing in the film “Krishna’s Story” made in USA, along with Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia & Ustad Zakir Hussain
22. Sang for the TV channel 13 of USA in 1981.
23. First North Indian Vocalist to be invited by the Carnatic Music Academy of North America in 1976
24. First Asian Vocalist after Pandit RaviShankar to perform on CNN T.V. channel (2001)