Abdul Ahad | |
---|---|
আবদুল আহাদ | |
Born | |
Died | 14 May 1996 | (aged 78)
Occupation | musician |
Awards | Independence Day Award (1978) |
Abdul Ahad (18 January 1918 – 14 May 1996)[1] was a Bangladeshi composer, music director and singer.[2] He was the recipient of Independence Day Award in 1978.[3] The Government of Pakistan awarded him Tamgha-e-Imtiaz in 1962 and Sitara-i-Imtiaz in 1969 for his contribution to music.[4]
Ahad was born in Rajshahi in the then Bengal Presidency. He took lessons from Ustad Bali and Ustad Manju Sahib.[4] He took part in the All-Bengal Music Competition in 1936 and stood first in the Thumri and Ghazal section.[4] In 1938, he won a scholarship from Shantiniketan as the first Bengali Muslim student.[5] In Santiniketan, he sang the song Diner Por Din Je Gelo and was beloved by Rabindranath Tagore.[4]
After spending four years at Santiniketan, he joined Master's Voice in Calcutta in 1941 as a music teacher.[4] Artistes including Pankaj Mullick and Hemanta Mukherjee recorded Tagore songs under his direction.[4] In 1941, Ahad joined HMV Calcutta and gradually became a music director for the recording industry as well as the film industry.Cite error: The <ref>
tag has too many names (see the help page). After the 1947 Partition of India, Ahad joined Radio Pakistan and became a key person in the musical arena of Dhaka.[6] He introduced many new talents to the music world, composed numerous songs and wrote several books on Bengali music.[7]
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