Catch Parveen Sultana perform live on June 15 at Chowdiah Memorial Hall. She is an Assamese Hindustani classical singer of the Patiala Gharana. She is among the foremost classical vocalists in India and is often called the Queen of classical vocal. She was conferred the Padmashri in 1976, at the age of 25. Parveen Sultana was born at Daccapatty in Nagaon city, Assam, India to Ikramul Mazid and Maroofa Begum. She went to Mission School.
Her father, late Ikramul Mazid was her first guru and he was very strict with her. She also received early training from her grandfather Mohammed Najeef Khan, a pathan . She later went to Kolkata to learn music under the guidance of late Pandit Chinmoy Lahiri and from 1973, she became a disciple of Ustad Dilshad Khan of the Patiala Gharana. Parveen Sultana gave her first stage performance in 1962 when she was only 12 and has been recording music since 1965.
Sultana has sung for movies like Gadar, Kudrat, Do Boond Pani, and Pakeezah. Recently, she sang the theme song of Vikram Bhatt’s latest opus 1920. She also sang Humein Tumse Pyaar Kitna, Kudrat 1981. A child prodigy, Begum Parveen Sultana received her early training from her father, Ikramul Majid, then from Acharya Chinmoy Lahiri in Calcutta. She then moved to Bombay and came under the guidance of her Guru and Mentor, Ustad Mohammed Dilshad Khan. With him, she has acquired a new dimension to her singing, giving it the required mastery of ragas and voice culture. Many awards and honours have come her way: the youngest artist to receive the ‘Padmashri’, a coveted award from the Government of India.
The press has been unanimous in proclaiming her the ‘Queen of Hindustani Music’, the ‘Poetess of Music’ and ‘the Ultimate Soprano’, applauding her for both her outstanding musicality and breathtaking virtuosity.