Abbas Uddin
Encyclopedia
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
folk singer
Folk Singer
Folk Singer is a 1964 album by Muddy Waters. Waters plays acoustic guitar, backed by Willie Dixon on string bass, Clifton James on drums, and Buddy Guy on acoustic guitar...
. He was born at Balarampur
Balarampur
Balarampur is a census town in Purulia district in the state of West Bengal, India.-Geography:Balarampur is located at . It has an average elevation of .Distance from district head quarter Purulia is 32 km and near about 60 km from Jamshedpur....
in Tufanganj
Tufanganj
Tufanganj is a sub-division town and a municipality in Cooch Behar district in the Indian state of West Bengal.Unofficial Website:http://tufanganj.50webs.com-Geography:...
subdivision in the district of Cooch Bihar. His father, Zafar Ali Ahmed, was a lawyer at the Tufanganj Sub-divisional Court.
Career in music
Abbasuddin's interest in music grew through attendance at cultural functions at school and college. He was self-taught, except for a brief period when he learnt music from Ustad Jamiruddin Khan in KolkataKolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
and Ustad Kader Buksh in Murshidabad
Murshidabad
Murshidabad is a city in Murshidabad district of West Bengal state in India. The city of Murshidabad is located on the southern bank of the Bhagirathi, a distributary of the Ganges River. It was the capital of undivided Bengal during the Mughal rule. Nawabs of Bengal used to rule Bengal from this...
. He sang different types of songs such as folk songs, modern songs, patriotic songs, Islamic songs, and Urdu songs. But Abbasuddin became renowned mainly as a singer of folk songs.
Initially, he became famous for bhawaiya
Bhawaiya
Bhawaiya is a musical form popular in Northern Bangladesh, especially Rangpur District and in North Bengal specially in Cooch Behar district and Jalpaiguri District. This type of song is sung by the coachman. They sing this song while driving their cow drawn cart...
, Ksirol, Chatka in Rangpur
Rangpur, Bangladesh
Rangpur is one of the major cities in Bangladesh. Rangpur is considered as the centre of northwestern Bangladesh. Recently established public university of Bangladesh named as "Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur" is situated in the southern part of the city. Earlier Rangpur was the headquarter of...
, and Cooch Bihar. He became increasingly popular with his rendition of jaari, sari, bhatiyali, murshidi, Bichchhedi (songs of estrangement), Marsiya, Dehatattwa, and pala gan, especially when these were made into gramophone records. No other singer could surpass his emotional, full-throated rendition of folk songs. He also sang songs on Islamic themes composed by Kazi Nazrul Islam
Kazi Nazrul Islam
Kazi Nazrul Islam , sobriquet Bidrohi Kobi, was a Bengali poet, musician and revolutionary who pioneered poetic works espousing intense spiritual rebellion against fascism and oppression. His poetry and nationalist activism earned him the popular title of Bidrohi Kobi...
, Jasimuddin
Jasimuddin
Jasimuddin was a renowned Bengali poet, songwriter, prose writer, folklore collector and radio personality. He is commonly known in Bangladesh as Polli Kobi, the Rural Poet for his faithful rendition of Bangla folklore in his works...
and Golam Mostafa.
In Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
, Abbasuddin made a number of gramophone record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
s with His Master's Voice (HMV) as well as with Megaphone, Twin and Regal. By singing at various functions in villages, towns and cities as well as by recording his songs, Abbasuddin made music acceptable and popular in conservative Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
i Muslim society.
Some of Abbasuddin's famous song are " Kon birohir ayan jole badol jhare go" and his famous Eid Song " Romjaner oi rojar shesey elo khiushir eid"
Abbasuddin stayed in Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
from 1931 to 1947. Initially, he worked temporarily as a clerk in the DPI office and then in the Department of Irrigation in a permanent post. When A. K. Fazlul Huq
A. K. Fazlul Huq
Not to be confused with the cricket ground in Dhaka Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium Sher-e-Bangla Abul Kashem Fazlul Huq was a well-known Bengali statesman in the first half of the 20th century...
was Chief Minister, Abbasuddin was given a Government job as a recording expert. In the 1940s, Abbasuddin's songs played a significant role in raising the Muslim public opinion in favour of the Pakistan movement
Pakistan Movement
The Pakistan Movement or Tehrik-e-Pakistan refers to the historical movement to have an independent Muslim state named Pakistan created from the separation of the north-western region of the Indian subcontinent, partitioned within or outside the British Indian Empire. It had its origins in the...
. In 1947, after partition, he joined the Department of Information and Broadcasting as an additional song organiser. As a representative of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, he participated at the South East Asia Conference in Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
in 1955, at the International Folk Music Conference in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in 1956 and at the Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
i Cultural Conference in Rangoon in 1957.
Books and awards
Abbasuddin wrote an account of his life as a singer in Amar Shilpi Jibaner Katha (1960). For his invaluable contribution to music he was posthumously honoured with the Pride of Performance Award in 1960, Shilpakala AcademyShilpakala Academy
Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy is the principal state-sponsored national cultural center of Bangladesh. It is a successor to the former Pakistan Arts Council....
Award in 1979 (posthumously) and Swadhinata Dibas Puraskar in 1981 (posthumously). His eldest son, Justice Mustafa Kamal is a former Chief Justice of Bangladesh
Chief Justice of Bangladesh
Chief Justice of Bangladesh is the chief amongst the judges of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh He also is the head of the whole judicial establishment in the country, including subordinate courts....
and former Chairman of the Law Commission. His daughter, Ferdausi Rahman
Ferdausi Rahman
Ferdousi Rahman formerly known as Ferdousi Begum , is the only daughter of folk legend Abbas Uddin. Her music career started in her early years under her father's direction....
, his youngest son, Mustafa Zaman Abbasi, and his granddaughters, Nashid Kamal and Samira Abbasi, are also renowned singers. His great grand daughter Armeen Musa is also an upcoming artist in Bangla music.