Abbasuddin Ahmed

Abbasuddin Ahmed (27 October 1901 – 30 December 1959)^[1] was a Bengali folk song composer and singer born in the Bengal province of British India. He was known for Bhawaiya folk song which is a style commonly found in Rangpur, Undivided Goalpara district and Cooch Behar.

Abbasuddin Ahmed
Background information
Born	(1901-10-27)27 October 1901 Tufanganj, Cooch Behar State, British India
Died	30 December 1959(1959-12-30) (aged 58) Dacca, East Pakistan, Pakistan
Genres	Bhawaiya, Nazrul Geeti
Occupation(s)	singer, composer
Instrument	Vocals
Children	Mustafa Ferdousi Abbasi
Father	Ali Zafar Ahmed
Awards	Pride of Performance Independence Day Award Shilpakala Academy Award

Early life

Ahmed was born in the Tufanganj subdivision of Cooch Behar district (now in India). His father, Zafar Ali Ahmed, was a lawyer at Tufanganj court.^[2] He was educated in schools and a college in North Bengal and was attracted to music by the cultural programs they offered. He was largely a self-taught composer and singer, though for a brief period he learned music from Ustad Jamiruddin Khan in Kolkata.

Career

Ahmed (left) with Allauddin Khan and Qazi Motahar Hossain (c. 1955)

Ahmed started his career by singing modern Bangla songs for the His Master's Voice studios, followed by modern songs of poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, the national poet of Bangladesh. He then proposed to Nazrul Islam to write and tune Islamic songs, which he sang in numerous numbers and recorded for the His Master's Voice studios. He has a pioneering role in bringing the music to the home of the Indian Muslims and arousing them from a state of backwardness. He was the first Muslim in erstwhile India who used his own name in the record labels. Before Abbassddin Ahmed, Muslim singers would use pseudo names, so that their Muslim identity would be anonymous. He later recorded Bhawaiya, Khirol and Chatka which were famous in Undivided Goalpara District, Cooch Behar and Rangpur. Later he started to sing other folk songs like jaari, sari, bhatiyali, murshidi, bichchhedi (songs of estrangement), marsiya, dehatattwa, and musical plays. He also collaborated with, Jasimuddin and Golam Mostafa.^[3][4]

Awards

• Pride of Performance (1960)
• Shilpakala Academy Award (1979)
• Independence Day Award (1981)^[5]

Legacy

Ahmed's first son Mustafa Kamal served as the Chief Justice of Bangladesh during June–December 1999. His only daughter, Ferdausi Rahman is a classical musician. His youngest son, Mustafa Zaman Abbasi, is a folk researcher, writer, singer and social worker.

Ahmed's granddaughter, Nashid Kamal, daughter of Mustafa Kamal, is a singer, professor of demography and writer.^[6]