Abida Parveen

Abida Parveen, the Pakistani singer with the truly amazing voice, is in Mumbai over the weekend. She’s performing at the Aman Ki Asha concert at Bandra Fort on Sunday evening with our Shubha Mudgal.

And fans of this Sufi singer who form a cult around the world, may expect ghazals, Urdu love poems, songs also in Punjabi, Sindhi and Seraiki — a Perso-Arabic language widely spoken in Pakistan, with Abida’s husky alto voice accompanied only by percussion and harmonium. But she’s also an entertainer in the true sense of the word, she sways with her songs, turns her hands in space, slaps her thighs, extends her palms upwards, she gives herself up to her music because for her ecstasy is spiritual, and Sufism is really the inner mystical dimension of Islam.

I was to meet her over dinner. But the notorious Mumbai peak hour traffic did me in. Abida got me on the phone, the famous voice soothing, tut-tutting with concern. The traffic was the same even in Pakistan. “Afsos ki baat hai,” she regretted. In that way, in every way, there was no difference between the two nations, she said. But, Mumbai was zabardast! That’s a word she uses often in her chaste Urdu conversation. And she could feel the tug of love from this side of the border for her. But it was not one-sided, this love affair. “Mohabbat dono taraf se hai,” she confided in me. “It’s all the same, India and Pakistan... ek hi ghar hai.” This is the same Abida who in 2003 during Indo-Pak hostilities had famously hoped that the ancient and soulful strains of Sufi music might one day unite the two countries. And now, through Aman Ki Asha — the people-to-people peace initiative undertaken by The Times of India and Jang Group of Pakistan, she was actually here to make it happen. “Beshaque,” she said with conviction, “Sufi music is about love, spiritualism, dard ka pehgam hai.”

Among her followers and fans around the world, Abida has the status of a Sufi saint, and she’s regarded as heir to the crown of the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Somebody once said of her in London that Abida could sing a shopping list and have an audience weeping. This at a time when one of her many albums was releasing and it was wondered how fans abroad, who don’t understand a word she is singing, yet clap their hands, shout “Allah” in response to her cues, and throw money on the stage. Abida laughed in delight when I questioned her about this. “Allah ke tarah se meherbani hai,” she said. “I have fans in the US, in UK, and in the Scandinavian countries, all of whom don’t understand each other’s tongues, but Sufi music you don’t need to understand... there is a powerful and positive radiation, it goes to the soul and settles there. And that is where I reside... in the souls of fans.”

But to come to tomorrow’s concert, she’s looking forward to meeting Shubha Mudgal, and to bringing the people of India and Pakistan closer together culturally, emotionally, spiritually with their music. She’s had a “mulakat” with Shubha before, “ek hi manch pe”, and she finds her “bahut zabardast”. “I cannot compare myself with Shubha, I fail to find words to describe her,” Abida said in handsome praise of the Hindustani classical singer.
As for Aman Ki Asha, through which musicians including ghazal, Sufi, folk and qawalli artistes from both countries will perform across six cities of India starting tomorrow... Abida Parveen struggled for words again, then said, “Inshallah, when the two countries have so much in common, peace will one day prevail, Sufi music will have a role in this. Music transcends barriers of language, culture and creed. Music is art. And the most difficult situations are presented so easily by art. Yeh Khuda ka kanoon hai, yeh rab kar raha hai, aap dua farmai...”

Shubha Mudgal
‘Aman Ki Asha is a wonderful initiative of peace and love and it’s great that Abidaji has accepted the request of performing here for her fans which includes me also. She’s iconic as far as Sufi music is concerned, which is all about love and peace and with her genius, she will definitely bring out that powerful message. We artistes have immense respect for artistes from across the border and Abidaji, specially, is extremely generous in her ways. I have met her several times and I’m looking forward to meeting her again.’