Zahida Parveen sings Multani Kafi ~Kahnon keeti assan naal bus wey (Live)

Zahida Parveen sings Kafi

From the Archives of APMC 1960-61

Venue-Open Air Theatre, Bagh e Jinnah, Lahore

*A Syed Wajid's Presentation

`Zahida Parveen ~The Nightingale

"The great Kafi singer Zahida Parveen was born in Amritsar, Punjab, British India in 1925. Critics say that she was a ‘Peerni’ (saintly figure) by caste and not a ‘tawaif’ (red light area) singer. Her parents died at an early stage. She was raised by one of the two elder sisters namely Peeran Ditti (gift of Saints). Zahida Parveen was of short height and she was a dark complexioned lady. Because of these physical traits she was often referred to as the black nightingale; the latter title because of her expert singing. Initially she became a pupil of sarangi player Baba Taj from Kapurthalla on the recommendation of her elder sister. Then she came under the umbrella of Hussain Bakhsh Khan sarangi player from Amritsar. Her vocal chords had God-gifted quality to render with ease the most difficult ‘Taans” (faster embellishments) and ‘Meends’ (touching notes with a camber); an art she developed after long hours of ‘Riaz’ (practice). This is the reason that whenever difficult ‘Taans’ were needed to be rendered which was out of reach of an ordinary playback singer.

Her gramophone record for His Masters Voice (HMV) with the Kafi “Kya Haal Sunawan Dil Da” on one side and “Maindi Ajj Kal Akh Phurkaandi Aei” on the other became a hit. By now, she was considered as an expert in singing kafis of Khawaja Ghulam Fareed. This was a beginning to no end. Subsequently she recorded many more Kafis in Punjabi, Saraiki and Sindhi for HMV, radio and stage.

Zahida died in 1975."

(written by Amjad Parvez for dailytimes.com.pk)