Nara can refer to:

Look up nara in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Geography

• Nara, Attock, a village in Attock, Pakistan
• Nara, Jhelum, a village in Jhelum, Pakistan
• Nara, NWFP, Union Council of Abbottabad, Pakistan
• Nara, Nara, capital city of Nara Prefecture, Japan
• Nara Prefecture, a prefecture of Japan
• Nara, Mali, a city in Mali
• Nara River, a river in Russia

People and society

• Nara people, an ethnic minority in Eritrea
• Nara (clan), a Manchu clan
• Nara Party or National Radical Camp, a Polish political party from 1937 to 1939

People with the name Nara

• Yoshitomo Nara, a Japanese artist

Other uses

• Nara language, a language spoken chiefly in Eritrea
• Nara period, a period of Japanese history
• Shikamaru Nara, a fictional character in the manga and anime series Naruto
• National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), a U.S. government agency
• One of the twins Nara-Narayana in Hindu mythology
• Acanthosicyos horridus or !nara, a melon of the Namib desert
• Naenara, the official web portal of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

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Jang Na-ra (Korean: 장나라, born March 18, 1981) is a South Korean singer and actress. She also sings in Chinese, and is known in China by her transliterated Chinese name (simplified Chinese: 张娜拉; traditional Chinese: 張娜拉; pinyin: Zhāng Nàlā).

Early life[link]

As a child, Jang spent most of her childhood in her birthplace, Seoul, but appeared with her father in a play, Les Misérables, in her primary school days, thus sparking her interest to become an actress. Jang also went on to become an advertisement model for some television advertisements in her high school days before entering into the Department of Theater, the Faculty of Fine Arts at Chungang University in March 2000.

Music career[link]

Jang moved into a singing career by signing a contract with SM Entertainment, however SM Entertainment had dropped Jang due to assumptions that Jang would have lesser or no popularity than other competing artists. Despite SM's opinion, Jang released her first album with the title song, "Burying My Face In Tears". The album sold 300,000 copies in the process. Her pop ballad style song, Confession and the April Story, was ranked at the top in various music charts. Thus, this resulted in Jang holding an MC job at MBC's music show, Music Camp. Jang was also the MC of talk show Love Story.

Acting career[link]

Jang also has a successful acting career, in which she appears in a TV sitcom "New Nonstop" with famous South Korean young stars such as Park Kyung-lim and Yang Dong Geun. Together with Jang Hyuk, she also played the leading role in a TV drama, "Successful Story of a Bright Girl", which recorded high audience rating.^{[citation needed]}

In recent years, she starred in a drama in China, called "Bratty Princess". Being the lead actress, she has attracted much affection from Chinese-speaking fans and has become quite popular in Chinese-speaking countries in Asia. She has also released a few Chinese-language CDs. Her first Chinese album was a huge success and it featured her previously released Korean songs translated into Chinese. The Chinese versions of "Sweet Dream", "It's Probably Love" and "I'm A Woman Too" have become very popular on radio throughout Asia. She has performed many concerts in China, often singing both Korean and Chinese songs. Recently she released another Chinese album called "Kung Fu". The video for the song featured her in red qipao (Chinese women traditional dress), fighting villains, and dancing with a cute panda. She is also in the 2008 Olympic song "Beijing Welcomes You", as the only non-Chinese ethnic singer. In the middle of this year Jang Nara decided to ended her 6 year of hiatus by taking a leading role as Lee Seo Young who is 34 year old mistaken for being 25 in a rom-com "Baby Faced Beauty". This on-going drama also a mark for her to start her come back status in K-Drama world.She is a relative of bang Min-ah,from the Girl's Day girl group of Dream tea Entertainment.

Filmography[link]

Drama[link]

Charity and other activities[link]

Jang does some charity work such as sending free powdered milk to the hungry North Korean children. She also works with the FHI Charity organization.

Recently, Jang held a fund-raising concert for child patients of leukemia in China. The Jang Foundation was established from the money raised during Jang's fan club meeting at her June 9 concert in Beijing, which was held to mark the 15th year of Korean-Chinese diplomatic relations. Twelve hundred seats at the concert venue sold out early. After the concert on stage, a leading Chinese charity organization appointed Jang as a goodwill ambassador, making her the first foreigner to receive such an honor.^[2]

In June 2010, Jang was appointed as an associate professor at the Beijing Huajia University (北京华嘉学院).^[3]

In 2011, Jang was appointed as Seoul’s Gangnam-gu’s ambassador to promote tourism in the area.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Others[link]

Awards[link]

• 2001 MBC Best MC Award
• 2003 Singer of the Year (Korea) CCTV-MTV Music Honors
• 2002 KBS Music Awards
• 2002 SBS 10 Best Star
• 2002 KMTV Music Award
• 2002 MBC Golden Disk Award

• 2002 MBC Singer Award
• 15th International Chunsa Film Festival: Hallyu Grand Award
• 2010 Asia Star Award

• 2011 KBS Drama Award Best Actress of Mini Series

References[link]

1. ^ The explanation for Jang Nara's name by her father, from Jang Nara's official website. (in Korean)
2. ^ "Jang Nara Named Ambassador of Chinese Charity". KBS GLOBAL. 2007-06-29. http://english.kbs.co.kr/entertainment/news/1463495_11858.html. Retrieved 2007-06-30. 
3. ^ Jo, Sang-won (2010-07-02), "10년만에 대학 졸업한 장나라, 중국에서 교수됐다 [Jang Nara, only ten years out of university, becomes professor in China]", Gyeongwon Ilbo, http://www.kwnews.co.kr/nview.asp?s=801&aid=210070100156, retrieved 2010-07-04 
4. ^ :: 한국음반산업협회 ::
5. ^ ^{a b} :: 한국음반산업협회 ::
6. ^ :: 한국음반산업협회 ::
7. ^ ^{a b} 2004년 총결산 국내음반 판매량집계

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Jang Nara at the Internet Movie Database
• Official English Website
• Official Taiwan Website
• Official Chinese Blog
• Official Chinese MicroBlog

This article may contain wording that merely promotes the subject without imparting verifiable information. Please remove or replace such wording, unless you can cite independent sources that support the characterization. (February 2012)

Abida Parveen
Abida Parveen in concert
Background information
Born	1954 (age 57–58)
Origin	Larkana, Pakistan
Genres	Kafi Ghazal Qawwali
Occupations	Singer Musician
Years active	1973–present

Abida Parveen (born 1954) (Sindhi: عابده پروين, Urdu: عابده پروین), is a Pakistani singer of Sindhi descent and one of the foremost exponents of Sufi music (Sufiana kalaam). She sings mainly ghazals, Urdu love songs, and her forte, Kafis, a solo genre accompanied by percussion and harmonium, using a repertoire of songs by Sufi poets.^[1] Parveen sings in Urdu, Sindhi, Saraiki, Punjabi and Persian, and together with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is considered one of the finest Sufi vocalists of the modern era.^[2][3][4][5]

Early life[link]

Abida Parveen, a Sindhi, was born in mohalla Ali Goharabad in Larkana (Sindh province, Pakistan).^[2] She received her musical

training initially from her father, Ustad Ghulam Haider, and later from Ustad Salamat Ali Khan of the Sham Chorasia gharana. Growing up, she attended her father's music school,where her foundation in music was laid ^[6]

Career[link]

Abida Parveen embarked upon her professional career from Radio Pakistan, Hyderabad, in 1973. Her first hit was the Sindhi song “Tuhinje zulfan jay band kamand widha”.

Coke Studio[link]

Abida performed on the internationally acclaimed Pakistani show Coke Studio, on which she sang three songs, including Ramooz-e-Ishq, Nigah-e-Darwaishaan, and Soz-e-Ishq.

Personal life[link]

Abida was married to Ghulam Hussain Sheikh, senior producer at Radio Pakistan, who died a few years ago and who nurtured her development as a singer in her early years. The couple had a daughter Priya, an MBA who acts as her adviser, and a son Saranj.^[1][2]

Awards[link]

President of Pakistan’s Award for Pride of Performance (1982), and the Sitara-e-Imtiaz (2005).

Discography[link]

Abida Parveen in concert at Oslo

• Aap Ki Abida
• Are Logo Tumhara Kiya
• Best of Abida Parveen (1997)
• Baba Bulleh Shah
• Abida Parveen Sings Songs of the Mystics Vol 1
• Arifana Kalam
• Chants Soufis Du Pakistan
• Faiz by Abida
• Ghalib by Abida Parveen
• Ghazal Ka Safar Vol I
• Ghazal Ka Safar Vol II
• Har Tarannum
• Hazrat Sultanul Arafin Haq Bahu Rematullah
• Heer By Abida
• Ho Jamalo
• Ishq Mastana
• Jahan-e-Khusrau
• Jeewey Sain Yan Jeewey
• Kabir by Abida (2002)
• Kafian Bulleh Shah
• Kafiyan Khwaja Ghulam Farid
• Khazana
• Kuch Is Ada Se Aaj
• Latthe Di Chadar
• Mahi Yaar Di Ghadoli
• Mere Dil Se
• Meri Pasand - Abida Parveen
• Raqs-e-Bismil - Dance of the Wounded
• Sarhadein
• Sings Amir Khusrau
• Tera Ishq Nachaya
• The very best of Abida
• Yaadgar Ghazalen Vol 1
• Rukh-e-Murshid (A tribute to Abida Parveen's Murshid Sahibzada Muhammad Najeeb Sultan)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Abida Parveen

• Abida Parveen Biography
• Courting Ecstasy In Songs Of Pakistan at New York Times