Abida Parveen

Some Lesser Known Facts About Abida Parveen

• Does Abida Parveen smoke?: Not Known

• Does Abida Parveen drink alcohol?: Not Known

• She initially took music training from her father, Ustad Ghulam Haider, whom she called Baba Sain and Gawwaya. Parveen had got the devotional inspiration from her father’s musical school, where the foundation of her musical career was laid.

• Parveen was forced to opt for the career, she had, in fact, sang her first complete kalam when she aged just 3.

• Moving on in her life, she was later trained and nurtured by Ustad Salamat Ali Khan of Sham Chaurasia Gharana.

• In the early 1970s, Parveen had started to perform at ‘Urs,’ an annual festival which commemorates the death anniversary of the Sufi saint ‘Moinuddin Chishti,’ and ‘Dargahs,’ a shrine built over the grave of a respected religious figure.

• Her first breakthrough as a singer came in 1973 with a Sindhi song, ‘Tuhinje zulfan jay band kamand widha,’ on Radio Pakistan.

• Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the then President of Pakistan honoured her with the Pride of Pakistan Award in 1984.

• Parveen’s performance at Wembley Conference Centre, London, in 1989, was broadcast on the BBC.

• She took Sufi Music to the global level with her first international concert at Buena Park, California, in September 1993.

• In the year 2005, Pervez Musharraf, the then president of Pakistan, bestowed her with the Sitara-e-Imtiaz, Pakistan’s third highest civilian award.

• For the song, titled ‘Zindagi,’ which was based on social problems that children face, she collaborated with Shehzad Roy, in the year 2007.

• While performing at a musical event in Lahore in November 2010, Parveen suffered a heart attack, following which, she underwent Angiography and Angioplasty.

• Along with Indian singer Asha Bhosle, and Bangladeshi singer Runa Laila, Parveen judged the singing talent show, ‘Sur Kshetra,’ a musical battle between the teams of two neighbouring nations’ India and Pakistan, in the year 2012.

• In October 2012, Kaladharmi Begum Akhtar Academy of Ghazal honoured her with the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ in India.

• With the two-floor venture, named ‘Abida Parveen Gallerie,’ she stepped into the commercial world in December 2012. The gallery, run by her daughters, exhibits her awards, achievements for her fans, and her musical records, jewellery, paintings, designer clothing for sales. The AP Gallerie contains a music recording studio in it as well.

• For her contribution to the field of music, Parveen was conferred upon with Pakistan’s second highest civilian award, Hilal-i-Imtiaz, in 2013.

• Javed Malik, a diplomat and Pakistan’s Ambassador to the Kindom of Bahrain and Special Envoy of Prime Minister, presented Parveen with the Ambassador’s Recognition Award in the United Aram Emirates (UAE), in January 2015. 

• She collaborated with a Candian orchestra and an Indian music director duo, Salim–Sulaiman in 2016 for a special song, ‘Noor-e-Illahi,’ which was released on Eid.

• South Asian Association For Regional Co-operation (SAARC) named Parveen as its Peace Ambassador in 2017.