Parwati Kumari – A new star in the ‘Sufi’ Galaxy
It’s not just anybody’s cup of tea to sing Sufi. Period. The music which is woven into the words of self realized saints like Bulle Shah and many others makes it obligatory for the artiste to make a connection with a higher power to truly transfer that magic into words, and words into music. And, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Abida Parveen and contemporary singers like Kailash Kher are good at that art.
Parwati Kumari can easily be added to that list. Why you may ask? – Simply because, the aforementioned artiste feels what she sings. And, any artiste who is capable of doing that will easily gravitate listeners into the ‘zone’ which gets you in a trance. A music lover who has already heard Abida Parveen or Shubha Mudgal will instantly link Parwati’s voice to them. But, to avoid that obvious comparison her vocals have been weaned over a more contemporary sound by composer Gaurav Issar – quite successfully.
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Dressed in simple attire, hair neatly done in two braids, sipping warm water from her thermos occasionally, the star performer Parwati Kumari left a humbling impression all throughout the event held by Saregama on Thursday. The artiste sang around five songs on the occasion of her first performance with Saregama. Tough purists may react furiously on the Sufi genre being mixed with electronica, but in this case, one must say it was done quite sensibly. The singer started her performance with a clean sound (no loops or DJ) for her first song (It also allowed those present to focus on her ‘voice’). The second song was heard with some electronic additions, whereas in her third song ‘Arre Logon’ (done at a faster tempo), it was tripping!
After hearing the performer, one will easily be convinced with that Parwati’s musical abilities, on-spot improvisations, pronunciations and the impeccable throw in her voice fulfills all the required elements that are a must have for an performing artiste. It’s the kind of voice perfectly apt for ghazals, sufi and classical songs, and much like Shubha Mudgal, the roundness in her voice is quite evident.
BOTTOM LINE
There’s and old adage – you believe what you see. One thing about ‘Live’ performances is that they are convincing. Whatever there is – is there! The listener either comes out convincing about the performers talent or doesn’t.
Sensibly tweaking the sound to appeal to a wider audience is fine, but IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) the videos should be as close as possible to the artiste’s personality and the genre he caters to– After all, for the larger audience, it would be the video which would be making an impression – At least until they get the opportunity to watch them perform live!
