Music for life – 3 : Begum Abida Parveen (Sufi Queen)

Aashna – Mystical fragrance of divine love by Begum Abida Parveen” is the album by Times Music – I am listening these days.

A taste for Sufi music – the diva have something great for your soul – through the channels of ears. One can understand that through the path of love one reaches the supreme joyous path leading to God. So what better than songs and poems can convey the feelings!

Begum Abida Parveen born on 1954 in Larkana, Pakistan has got trained voice brought up by her father Ghulam Haider’s music school and then Ustad Salamat Ali Khan (Sham chourasia Gharana). And the wings to her voice was given by her husband Ghulam Hussain Shiekh (senior producer of Radio Pakistan).

In this album she has picked up the lyrics of Urdu poets personally and the rendition is spiritual. Her heavy voice gives one a base to lift upwards the plane of love and hate one stays.

As the words are ‘Urdu – Punjabi’ type normal light song listeners needs some effort to understand the words deeply. But the voice have spiritual touch for sure, simple disciplined yet carefree.

Lyrics of Sufi verses from CD 1 – >

Song no. 1
Bulle noon samjhana Aaiyaa ( Poet : Baba Bulleh Shah )

Ganga tirath mul naa mil yaa painde behisaab hu
Jag daa murshid mil yaa baahu chhutte sab azzake hu
God is neither found in the sky, nor at the pilgrim towns
He cannot be found in bookish knowledge, even in high towers
God was not near to Ganga( But He is here)
All my troubles have ceases since my preceptor looked at me.

Song no: 3
Rabba Mere Haal Da ( Poet: Hazrat Shah Hussain)

Rabba mere haal da mehram tu
( You are the only one who understands my pain)

Jo kucch baab mere dukh karde Hai ki khabar kise nun
(No one knows how much pain my sorrows give)

So yaa jane kadar Mohammad Tanman lagdi jaenoon
( Only the one who experiences it, understands the pain)

———————-

Yaaran baaj Mohammad Bakhsha
Kaun kare damkhari
( God is kind, my friends ae around me
Who share my grief and sympathise with me )

——————–
Kahe Hussain faqir nimmana
Main nahin sab tu
(Helpless hussain can only say
All this is your energy, not mine)

Song no. 5 :
Ishq de pichche bane faqir ( Poet: Waris Shah)

Kaafire denda pinda vich saare
Aao kise faqir je hona je
Mang khavnaa, kamm na, kaaj karna
Na kujj chadhna te, nahin chauvnaa je
Zaraa kann padaaeeke swaah mallani
Guru saare hi jag da hovnaa je
( Ranjha is an addict of love, a maverick
He is like the king of the world
Love has made Ranjha
A sage, a renouncer , a fakir )

The bonus thing with this album is lyrics with meanings are given in a pretty good booklet (Which I reproduced partially). That helps to understand the lyrics in her mystic voice that sublimes one. Earlier when I didn’t go deep into sufi music, without any particular reason Nusrat Fateh Khan’s few songs I could hear for hours at stretch.

If one believes in spiritual touch of love for God and vice versa – this poetic album will surely uplift the listener – of course if one is ready to accept a taste – that is altogether a higher plane of music.

4 thoughts on “Music for life – 3 : Begum Abida Parveen (Sufi Queen)”

  1. I also like sufi music and songs but I have not heard Ashna yet.

    Two days back I finished reading the book “Rumi aur Main” by Anandamurty Ma. Nice book on Sufism

    Reply
  2. Thanks for liking the template. Here me too still playing with the template 😉 Its a default image of this template. Of course its from some hill country, may be from Nepal – who knows :).

    “Rumi aur Main” – though heard about but not read. Next weekend I will grab a copy.

    For ‘Aashna’ please ensure to read the lyrics along with the song – you shall like that – I am sure.

    Reply

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