Parveen Sultana

Begum Parween Sultana was born and brought up in a small town called Nowgaon in Assam from Jamindar family. Her great parents came from Afghanistan and settled down in Assam and started their business with timber, ivory and land owners of Nowgaon town, they were very much into Hindustani Classical Music. She inherited music from grandfather and father Ikramul Majid who was a graduate from Calcutta University in 1935 and while doing this study, he learnt music from great Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali khan sahib and he was the first musician with whose music concert, All India Radio Centre at Guwhati, Asaam was inaugurated. Parween Ji received initial training under her father Ikramul Majid Khan. Her mother Marufa Majid taught her Sufiana Kalam in Asammese and Rabindra sangeet. She continued classical vocal training under Sangeet Acharya Pandit Chinmay Lahiri, a disciple of Acharya S N Ratanjankar of Agra Gharana. Then she was trained under Ustad Dilshad Khan and also married him later in 1975 at Mumbai. Besides solo concerts, she had performed Jugalbandi with Dilshad Khan. She is a popular performer of Patiala – Kirana Gharana Khayal and Thumri genre. She also contributed as a playback singer in Assamese, Hindi and Bangali films. She has recorded extensively for HMV, Polydor, Music India, Bharat Records, Magna Sound, Sonodisc, and Amigo.She was recipient of several awards such as Cleopatra of Music (1972), PadmaShree (1976), Tansen Award (1986), Sangeet Natak Academy award (1999), etc.