Maestro’s Choice: Parween Sultana Vocal (Audio CD)

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From the CD

Parween Sultana, the lady who stole the hearts of Indian music fans in the late sixties and early seventies as a stunning young girl with the voice and maturity of a maestro, is now in the prime of her musical trajectory- with depth and power in that incredible voice. In this album Parween Sultana presents a series of bandishes in her crisp, highly energetic, rapid-fire, volatile style. Her music has at once a whiplash quality and coquettishness to it. The badhat is as charming as always, with her typical style of landing on the sam with aplomb. The full of life interplay with the tabla and the taan's, showcases celebration of sheer energy and joy, and her forays into the extremes of the range has the quality of superhuman adventure. Khayals, tarana, thumris, dadras or bhajans- Parween Sultana displays her uniform command over all genres, displaying her legendary ability to mould her voice and musicality to suit the demands of each genre and do justice to its innate individuality and character. With her, the Khayal is grand, the tarana flighty, the thumri soulful and the dadra lyrical.

Parween Sultana was a prodigy. As a teenager, she shot to superstardom with a voice and style, which placed her squarely in the seat vacated by none less than the revered Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan by his untimely illness and death. The maestro had stunned India in the forties with a demonstration of what Indian classical music can be, and what the voice can do. Parween created a similar sensation a quarter of a century later- completely taking over a generation, which had not even heard Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. The range and the speed were of course phenomenal, but additionally there was that lush and sparkling sense of melody, an utterly sensitive and beauteous way of improvisation, limitless creativity, lyricism and an overall sense of sheer magic. She received the Padma Shri when she was in her twenties. She took Southern India by storm too. She has the distinction of presenting the maximum number of Hindustani classical concerts south of the Vindhyas. In this album Parween Sultana renders khayals and tarana in ragas Maru Bihag, Amba Manohari and Hansdhwani, presented for Swarutsav 2003. Maestro's Choice Parween Sultana

Raga Maru Bihag, 30:15

Raga Amba Manohari, 15:26

Raga Hansdhwani (Tarana), 11:34