Mustafa Zaman Abbasi is no more
Acclaimed singer, researcher and writer Mustafa Zaman Abbasi passed away at a Banani hospital today, Saturday. He was 88. His daughter Sharmin Abbasi has confirmed the news of his death to Prothom Alo. He is survived by two daughters.
Mustafa Zaman Abbasi had been suffering from various old-age related complications for quite some time. Lastly, he had been admitted to the hospital with respiratory distress. He breathed his last around 5:30 am Saturday morning.
Mustafa Zaman Abbasi is the son of a prominent musician family of the subcontinent. His father Abbas Uddin Ahmed was a legendary Polligeeti singer. He was the first one to popularise our folk music, Polligeeti in different countries around the world. Mustafa Zaman’s uncle Abdul Karim was also a popular Polligiti and Bhawaiya singer.
Mustafa Zaman's elder brother justice Mustafa Kamal is a legist whose daughter Nashid Kamal is also an acclaimed singer. Their sister Ferdausi Rahman is acclaimed as a renowned and versatile musical talent of the country. Mustafa Zaman’s wife Asma Abbasi was a renowned teacher and writer who passed away last year.
Born in Balrampur village of Kochbihar district in India on 8 December 1936, Mustafa Zaman Abbasi spend his childhood in Kolkata. After achieving his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Dhaka University, he completed his higher studies in marketing from Harvard Group.
In his long career, he served in various vital positions at several organisations including the post of the director general of Shilpakala Academy. Mustafa Zaman Abbasi’s column titled ‘Godhulir Chayapothe’ published on Prothom Alo became quite popular among readers.
Mustafa Zaman Abbas’s contribution in folk music research and collection is exceptional. He led the folk music research group for 50 long years. There are several thousand folk songs in his collection. He performed more than 25 folk songs including Bhatiali, Bhawaiya and Najrul Geeti to present Bangladeshi music before the world.
Mustafa Zaman Abbasi was the president of UNESCO’s Bangladesh National Committee of Music as well as the researcher in-charge of writing English biographies of Kazi Nazrul Islam and Abbas Uddin.
Various television programmes including ‘Bhora Nodir Bake’, ‘Amar Thikana’, and ‘Apon Bhubon’ telecast on BTV became popular with his presentation. His programme ‘Bhora Nodir Bake’ had become quite popular then. He had an active role in social welfare as well. He had been involved in a number of initiatives as the governor of the Rotary Club.
Some notable ones of Mustafa Zaman Abbasi’s innumerous books are ‘Lokoshongiter Itihash’, ‘Bhatir Dasher Bhatiali’, ‘Rumir Oloukik Bagan’, novel ‘Horinakkhi’, memoir ‘Shopnora Thake Shopner Odhare’ and English biographies. As recognition for his contribution in Bangla literature he earned many acknowledgements including the Ekushey Padak.