Today marks the 107th birth anniversary of legendary folk singer Abbasuddin Ahmed (October 27, 1901-December 30, 1959). He was born at Balarampur in Tufanganj subdivision in the district of Cooch Behar, now in West Bengal. His father, Zafar Ali Ahmed, was a lawyer at the Tufanganj Subdivisional Court. 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 trained under Ustad Jamiruddin Khan in Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Ustad Kader Buksh in Murshidabad. He sang different types of songs such as folk, adhunik, patriotic and Islamic. But Abbasuddin became renowned mainly as a singer of folk songs.Initially, he became famous for his renditions of bhawaiya and chatka songs. He became increasingly popular with his jaari, shari, bhatiyali, murshidi, bichchhedi, marsiya and pala gaan, especially when these were made into gramophone records. No other singer could surpass his emotional, full-throated rendition of folk songs.
The fact that the virtuoso artiste played a key role in popularising Islamic songs in Bangla is often overlooked. "Ramzan-er oi rozar sheshey elo khushir Eid," a song that has become the unofficial harbinger of Eid-ul-Fitr, was originally recorded by Abbasuddin. This song, composed by Kazi Nazrul Islam, brought about a cultural renaissance among Bengali Muslims. According to Ferdousi Rahman, daughter of Abbasuddin and a renowned artiste: “In those days Abba was singing in Kolkata with HMV; he had also done various songs of Nazrul by that time. He wished to sing Islamic songs and told Nazrul about his desire to record Islamic songs like qawwali, which were very popular at the time. In those days conservative Muslims considered singing and even listening to music sacrilege. Bhagabati Babu, the rehearsal manager of Gramophone Company, was approached, but he angrily rejected the idea. At a suitable moment, Bhagabati was requested again and this time he gave his consent.”Nazrul composed the song within a matter of half an hour and taught Abbasuddin the song the very next day. The song became an instant hit and this marked the beginning of the era of Islamic songs in Bangla. Abbasuddin stayed in Calcutta from 1931 to 1947. In 1947, after Partition, he joined the Department of Information and Broadcasting as an additional song organiser. He participated at the South East Asia Conference in Manila in 1955 and at the International Folk Music Conference in Germany in 1956. Abbasuddin wrote an account of his life as a singer in "Amar Shilpi Jiban-er Katha" (1960). For his invaluable contribution to music he was posthumously honoured with the "Pride of Performance Award" in 1960, "Shilpakala Academy Award" in 1979 (posthumously) and "Swadhinata Dibas Puraskar" in 1981 (posthumously). Apart from Ferdousi, Abbasuddin's son Mustafa Zaman Abbasi and his granddaughter Nashid Kamal are also renowned singers.
