Abida is one of the most charismatic singers alive today. She is very much a Sufi who sings songs based on the poetry of Sufi saints, in Punjabi and Seraiki, among other languages of the Indian subcontinent. The genre is called Qawalli, which is the most raucous form of folk music from the Islamic world, and goes back hundreds of years.
I was introduced to Abida in Faisalabad, Pakistan. It was Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s daughter’s eleventh birthday, and Nusrat gave a big party for her and invited Abida to sing. The party lasted all night and in the morning I flew with Abida to Islamabad, and invited her to sing in the USA, and promised to put her in prestigious venues that would attract western audiences, rather than Pakistani expatriates.
I felt when Nusrat introduced Abida to me, that he was saying, silently, “After I go, she will be the one.” And it’s true.
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- Abida Parveen, source: last.fm
