The Hindu : Abida sings her way into Indian hearts

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 04, 2003

National

National

Abida sings her way into Indian hearts

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI March 3. It was a different kind of India-Pakistan "match.'' Over 1,000 Indians were bowled over by a single Pakistani. But, unlike the cricket match in South Africa between the South Asian rivals, there were no losers. The sufi singer from Pakistan, Abida Parveen, introduced as a "citizen of the world,'' stole the show at the end of the three-day "Jahan-e-Khusrau'' festival on Sunday night.

The setting could not have been more perfect. Humayun's tomb in Nizamuddin. An early March pleasant breeze and hundreds and hundreds of eager, committed listeners.

The show began with Morocco, moved to a sufi group from Iran (who were brilliant as well) and then all played together with the undoubted star of the show, Abida Parveen. The setting and the appreciative audience did seem to have an impact on the performers. Abida Parveen may have found that she has a larger, more appreciate audience in the Indian capital than in Pakistan.

Why should a Pakistani singer performing in the capital be such a rarity? Whatever the differences between two countries, the responses on Sunday pointed to the essential cultural similarities between the people of India and Pakistan.

Incidentally, this writer heard Abida Parveen live in Delhi and not in the three years plus that he was this newspaper's correspondent in Pakistan. As relations deteriorate between India and Pakistan, fewer and fewer such performances are on the agenda. And, the losers will be all those Indians and Pakistanis who appreciate good music. Here, one would like to recall that between 1997 and 2000 (when this correspondent was in Islamabad) Hariprasad Chaurasia and Pandit Jasraj were the only two top-notch Indian performers who made it to Pakistan. Abida Parveen is bold to come and perform in India in these troubled days. Farida Khanum, Pakistani ghazal singer and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, nephew of the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, chose not to travel to New Delhi last year.

To return to Sunday, Abida sang about God, love and the sufi's concept of God as the beloved. As long as one didn't break hearts, even the demolition of mosques and temples was "permitted.'' As the show ended, the Human Resource Development Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi, made his way to the stage (along with the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit) to greet the Pakistani artiste.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National