March 23, 2003

Shahida Parveen, one of the last few professional female classical vocalists left, passed on in Lahore on March 13, 2003. She was 50. She was a versatile singer whose forte was kafi singing, an art which she had inherited from her mother Zahida Parveen. The contours and range of Shahida’s somewhat bass voice, as well as her style of singing, were similar to that of her mother’s.

The area of Hira Mandi in Lahore produced a long chain of female classical vocalists during the 20th century. Known as the hearth of female entertainers and a repository of local melodic culture, it had achieved the distinction of grooming singers such as Inayatbai Dheroowali, Hirabai Lahori (Waheeda Khanum), Shamshad Kausar, Meena Lodhi, Khurshid Akhiyaan and Zahida Parveen. These singers received training in the art of music from revered musicians of the subcontinent such as Ustads Abdul Waheed Khan, Umeed Ali Khan, Jamal Khan and Chotay Ghulam Ali Khan. The musical prowess and talent of these ladies won them praise from professional musicians, critics, connoisseurs and votaries of classical music from all over the subcontinent.

In contradistinction to prostitutes, these ladies practised the art of classical music during their long careers, which remained unblemished. They were admired for their expertise in singing but were also respected for their civility and character. That was the time when respectable families of the city used to give their offspring in the care of such ladies to learn basic etiquette and manners of civilized behaviour.

 

A follower of the Patiala ‘gharana’ of ‘khayal’ traditions, Shahida Parveen was better known for her mellifluous renditions of Punjabi and Sindhi kafis than for her classical pieces
 

At the time of Independence in August 1947, among the well known female classical vocalists that Lahore inherited was Zahida Parveen, who provided listening pleasure to many who had developed a good taste in music. She also entertained through radio and by her visits to the shrines of the Sufi poets. She became known to millions of village folks from the rural hinterlands of the Punjab and Sindh, for whom the kafis of these mystical poets were a source of immense pleasure and solace. After the demise of Zahida Parveen in 1973, her daughter Shahida performed the role of her respected mother.

Shahida Parveen was admired for her tuneful renditions of devotional songs of the Sufis, like her mother. She was a versatile singer who regaled music buffs through her radio and television programmes. She also recorded a few songs for films. Additionally, she was a classical singer of merit, who won recognition from the fraternity of musicians.

Unassuming and somewhat reticent, Shahida Parveen possessed an affable and winning personality, especially a disarming smile that won her many friends and admirers. Her style of singing was exclusively her own. A follower of the Patiala gharana of khayal traditions, she was better known for her mellifluous renditions of Punjabi and Sindhi kafis than for her classical pieces.

One had had the pleasure of listening to her khayal singing, the last being her participation in a radio programme some four months ago when the old radio music school was revived at Radio Pakistan, Lahore. She impressed the local musical heavyweights and connoisseurs by her presentation of raga Puria Dhannasari.

With the demise of Shahida Parveen, Pakistan has become poorer in the domain of talent in classical music, especially among female singers.

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