A love affair with music

Parveen Sultana

Parveen Sultana started her musical journey at the age of six. Though Nazrul Sangeet and classical music are her forte, she renders adhunik, folk and songs of yesteryears with equal ease.
Inspired by her parents, especially her father Khandoker Sirajul Huda, Parveen started her musical lessons under renowned teachers like Ustad Mithun Dey, Sanjib Dey, Khalid Hussain, Akhter Sadmani and Barin Majumdar.
“I have been learning Nazrul Sangeet from Ustad Sanjib Dey for the last 25 years.
“I performed Raaga Marwa with my guru Barin Majumdar, followed by a workshop on classical music held at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in the late 80s,” reminisces Parveen.
Various production houses have brought out Parveen's 25 audio albums, of which six are solos and the rest mixed albums. “Hridoyer Anginaye,” “Parboti Hotey Chai” and “Tomar Du'chokhey Chokh Rekhey” are her solo adhunik albums, while “Tobu Mon-e Hoy,” and “Flashback” feature songs of yesteryears and “Khushir Eid” includes Nazrul Sangeet.
The album “Khushir Eid” earned her the Citycell-Channel i Music Award (2008). “Nazrul's lyrics are unparalleled. I love to sing Nazrul Sangeet that are classical music based. The album includes several genres of Nazrul compositions like geeti-kabyo, romantic, folk, patriotic, ghazal and Islamic songs,” says Parveen.
Laser Vision produced her latest album “Flashback”, featuring 12 songs from the 1960s and 1970s, originally recorded by renowned Bangladeshi singers -- Anjuman Ara Begum, Irine Parveen, Nahid Niazi, Ferdausi Rahman, Nilufar Yasmin, Shahnaz Rahmatullah, Fauzia Khan, Runa Laila and Sabina Yasmin.
Two of her albums, one featuring Nazrul Sangeet and another on adhunik songs, under the banner of Laser Vision, are in the pipeline.
“Several melodious Nazrul numbers like “Bidaye Shondhya Ashilo Oi”, “Oi Ghar Bholano Shurey” and “Anjoli Loho Mor” will be included in my upcoming album. I think, the media should take more initiatives to promote Nazrul Sangeet, maintaining the original tunes, as he is our National Poet,” says Parveen.
She is an enlisted artiste (special grade) at both Bangladesh Betar (radio) and Bangladesh TV since 1987.
She has also performed on several private TV channels. She is vivacious a stage performer. Parveen performed in London including a gala on Pahela Baishakh (2003) arranged by Bangla TV where more than 10,000 Bengalis from all over Europe assembled. Along with renowned songstresses Haimanti Shukla and Mitali Mukherjee, Parveen performed in Canada (2006). She also did a solo show in China (2007). She is scheduled to perform in Glasgow, UK in October, she informed.
Though she did her MSS in Economics from Dhaka University in 1991, she is an interior designer by profession and loves to read, cook, garden and travel. Bangladesh Performing Media and BTV conferred on her the best award in adhunik song category in 2009 and 2010 respectively.
“In my view, music has undergone changes all over the world during the last two decades. My advice to upcoming singers is to concentrate on classical music at least for a few years to develop their vocal capabilities,” Parveen says.