Begum Parveen Sultana

Begum Parveen Sultana ranks today as one of the foremost classical vocalists in India. A child prodigy, she was the youngest artist to receive the Padmashri award, in 1972, from the Government of India.

She received her early training from her father Ikramul Majid and her grandfather Mohammed Najeef Khan. Both were ardent music lovers and their nurturing of her talent at an early age enabled her to give her first recital at the tender age of twelve and from then on, there has been no looking back! Her father then put her under the guidance of renowned maestro Acharya Chinmoy Lahiri of Calcutta.

Parveen Sultana subsequently found the Guru who further laid down a much deeper foundation that gave a new dimension to her singing, giving it the required mastery of ragas and voice culture that would expand her range to three and a half octaves, Ustad Dilshad Khan, her Guru and husband.

Parveen Sultana was trained according to the Patiala Gharana (School of Music), but with Ustadji's guidance the essence of other Gharanas flowed into her music. She handles, with utter ease, a simple raga as well as a complicated one, moving from the slow Alaap to the swift Taans and Bol Taans, her immense confidence highlighting the most beautiful essence of the raga. Whether she sings a Khyal, Thumri or Bhajan, she keeps the form in its pristine purity.

Many awards have come her way. Parveen Sultana has been called the Melody Queen and has received numerous awards: 'Cleopatra of Music' (1970), 'Poetess of Music' (1972), 'Gandharva Kalanidhi' (1980), 'Mia Tansen' (1986) and 'Sangeet Samragni' (1994). She has also performed in major festivals and venues in India, USA, Europe and Australia.

Parveen Sultana has recorded for HMV, Polydor, Music India, Bharat Records, Auvidis, Magnasound, Sonodisc, Amigo.

Association Sargam is privileged to have represented Begum Parveen Sultana, as also her Guruji Ustad Dilshad Khan, since 1984 on innumerable European tours. She is the 'Ultimate Soprano', applauded for both her outstanding musicality and breathtaking virtuosity.

Press Extracts:

'With a paradoxical mixture of abandon and control, she masterfully expressed those subtleties of human emotion which could only ever find their expression in music (London 1991)

'She has risen to be the Queen of Hindustani Music' (Kerala Kaumudi)

'Her voice rings out uninhibited, clear, strong and firm. The audience thunders its applause…. the ultimate Soprano.' (Eve's Weekly, India)

'Unspoilt genius of Hindustani Music' (India Weekly, London, 1997).

'There was an ecstatic spiritual quality to her voice, from the first note to the last, it was a keening paean of devotion to beauty, light, love, and the Inner Self' (Zameen, UK 1997)

'The concert by Begum Sultana was magical! (Audience member, Royal Festival Hall (QEH), London 1997)

"Her matchless voice ….. held the audience spellbound" (The Times of India)

"Now there is nothing her voice cannot do - the timbre, the sweep, the range soaring higher than even the third octave but remaining as clear and pleasant… her rendering of ragas has acquired a greater depth and variation especially under the guidance of Dilshad Khan" (Indian Express, India)

"Not since Ravi Shankar's music took America by storm has the audience been treated to such a musical feast as Parveen's music… the audience stood up applauding thunderously" (News and Cine India Review, New York, USA)

"Parveen Sultana is among the cognoscenti, the household word… it is the voice that seduces the listener into approval…" (Indian Express, India)

"Breathtaking virtuosity over a range of four to five octaves… European music does not know anything comparable" (Hamburg Abendblatt, Germany)

"When people communicate by means of genuine art, they hardly need any interpreters. The old truth has been brilliantly confirmed by the triumphal tour of the Soviet Union of Indian popular performers Ustad Dilshad Khan and Begum Parveen Sultana". (USSR Youth Times)

"We forget ourselves in the extraordinary and spiritual and blessed voice of Parveen Sultana. We do not need to think twice about her unrivalled position as one of the greats in terms of purity of voice". (Kerala Kaumudi, India)

"Her voice flowed like a light, soothing breeze and the crowd was swayed by it" (Mathru Bhoomi, India)

"As for her music credentials, they have been compared to that of Enrico Caruso. She makes the difficult art of classical music comprehensive, melodious and delightful" (Tribune, London, UK)

'With a paradoxical mixture of abandon and control, she masterfully expressed those subtleties of human emotion which could only ever find their expression in music". (DJ, London, UK)

"And what an exquisite tunefulness attended her every note charged with feeling… at such superspeed and with such hairline accuracy that one felt (one) had not heard better". (Times of India)