On Friday at the Udupa Music Festival in Chowdiah Memorial Hall, Vyalikaval, singer Parveen Sultana took the stage to a packed hall. The applause came instantly and what followed was discipline in a khayal form, carrying the weight of decades of practice and the long journey that made her the singer she is today.
The 75-year-old singer began learning music from her father at the age of four. “My father was a wonderful singer who did not pursue music professionally, but he learned from great masters. That was the lineage I was introduced to. Those days were different. Now we live in a ‘jet age’ where speed is everything – no one has time. Earlier, we used to practice for three hours, take a break and go back to practice. That is why our music is very pure. We had to move up step by step with lots of patience.” Her father, a zamindar, recognised her talent early but set clear rules. “He told me, ‘If you want to take this forward as a profession, you have to take it thoroughly.’ At home, it was 24 hours of classical music. Not only practice, but theory too. You have to know the raga and have to hold on to it properly,” she reminisces, going back to her past finely weaved by music.
Growing up in Nagaon, Assam, meant long journeys to Kolkata to train with her guru, Pandit Chinmoy Lahiri. “I would travel by a small aircraft. I would feel sick, take tablets, sleep for almost 24 hours to recover and then go to learn. It was a hard phase but it built endurance,” she remembers, also highlighting the steps towards success, the meaning and rules of which have changed over time. She shares a word of advice to young musicians, saying, “Eagerness, love of music and dedication to practice are missing. People want shortcuts, but when you climb up too quickly, it doesn’t take much time to come down. You have to be religious when it comes to music.”
Sultana started off her career with the Assamese film Morom Trishna and went on to sing for Bollywood movies like Gadar, Kudrat, Pakeezah and various Assamese films, crooning Humein Tumse Pyaar Kitna, Aaj Kaun Gali Gayo Shyam, Pital Ki Mori Gagri and more.
Though the Bollywood projects earned her wide popularity and awards, cinema never became her primary calling. She chose projects focused on raga and eventually stepped away, albeit she is proud of her selections and offers that came from prominent directors. “Yes, the songs became popular. But fortunately or unfortunately, I’m not keen about film music. Even recently, someone approached me for a film. At my age, it doesn’t look nice. You must respect your age, society and yourself. These are things I follow very strictly. I don’t know about others,” Sultana laughs.
Across the world – from London to Jerusalem – audiences greet her with sold-out halls and standing ovations. She believes international listeners often arrive well-prepared, having studied the artist and repertoire beforehand. Yet regardless of geography, one principle holds: the raga must remain pure. What still moves her after decades on stage is the devotional core of her music. When she sings a bhajan, she says, she feels transported and takes the audience with her, to her world. And sometimes, moved by music, they weep. “Ours is like Sufi music. It gives you something inside, something spiritual,” she says.