A great singer indeed
Renowned folk-lore singer Abbas Uddin Ahmad was born on October 27 in 1901 in West Bengal of India, but the day passed silently on Wednesday because we are such a nation as we forget our origin and history, culture and tradition, own identity and civilization. But our great leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman did not forget Abbas Uddin Ahmed as evident from his book Ausampta Atmajiboni (Unfinished Memoirs).
He writes at page No. 111 as under:
Had I not heard the bhatiali songs sung (by Abbas Uddin Ahmed) in the boat during our river journey towards Aushuganj to catch train, a part of my life would have remained incomplete. When he was singing in a low voice, (so melodious it was) the river ripples as if were listening to his songs. His two students Sohrab Hossain and Bedar Uddin Ahmed tried to retain his reputation to some extent.
I became one of the admirers of Abbas Uddin Ahmed. He said to me: Mujib! A great conspiracy is being engineered against the Bengali language. If Bengali is not established as the State language, Bengal’s tradition, civilisation and every thing will be ruined. The sing you love today, its beauty and honour and every thing will be ruined. Do something. Make Bengali the State language by any means. I gave him word and tried to do accordingly.
Abbassddin Ahmed started his career by singing modern Bangla songs for the HMV 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 HMV 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 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.
Abbas Uddin died on December 27 in 1959 in Dhaka. May Allah, the Most Merciful keep his soul in peace.
Ameer Hamza
Dhaka
