The Mystic’s Music

You feel heaven only when you surrender to the sound of sufi, Parvati Kumari gives in to the unchained melody

At its core lies immense healing powers, those which repair the heart and turn it away from all else but God. It helps you travel into the presence of the divine, and elevate the senses in a blissful state of trance…such is the white light of sufi music and Parvati Kumari is glowing in it. Out with her debut album with Saregama, Barse Barse Naina, this fiesty singer from Jharkhand has lend her voice to sufi poetry of Amir Khusro, Bulle Shah, Ikhlaq among others. “There’s something so magical and pulling about sufi music that you just have to give in to its mystical charm,” says the singer who grew up singing in a dargah in Ghaziabad. “My voice is very distinct, different from bollywood requirements, so the struggle for a playback was always been there,” till a chance meeting with a music producer led her to an audition with Saregama where she landed up with a track on its extremely innovative Underground series album. “The track was called Arre Logon and it was part of the Mumbai Underground album,” tells Parwati, who has now picked the sufi strands with her new album. “I have always been into classical music…in fact, I have grown up on music, my entire family is into it,” Parwati, however, realised that her voice texture suited bolder songs, and so, “sufi instantly found its way in.” “Those who heard me said my voice was perfect for ghazals, sufi and classical songs, just like Shubha Mudgal and Abida Parveen, loud and clear,” she adds.

A student of gurus Nizami Bandh and Shardha Prasana Achera, five-time state winner from the Delhi chapter of Sangam Kala group and winner of the All India Light Vocal Music Competition organized by the Sangam Kala Group, Parwati feels that the ‘sangeet taleem’ is a must. “Your base has to be solid, only then you can build on it.” But is there a difference while singing classical and sufi? “Of course, sufi demands energy, rapt attention…you have to surrender to his will and get lost in it…you have to pour your heart and soul out and forget the world,” Parwati now wants to take her music to the world. “I have sung devotional songs, khayal, thumri, and dadra, but it’s the sufiana kalam that allows me the freedom to unchain my voice and feel heaven,” she sings on.