Akhtar Hussain | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1959 (age 64–65) Hyderabad Deccan, India |
| Citizenship | Pakistani |
| Occupation | Sarangi player |
| Children | Gul Mohammed Hussain (sarangi player) |
| Relatives | Ghulam Mohammed Khan (1910 – 1974) (grandfather) A noted sarangi player of his time |
Akhtar Hussain, (born 1959) is a sarangi player from Karachi, Pakistan.[1][2]
His grandfather, Ghulam Mohammed Khan (1910 – 1974), was associated with the court of the Nawab of Hyderabad Deccan and was highly regarded for his sarangi performances at private gatherings of Nawab.[1]
Early life and family
Akhtar Hussain was born in 1959 in Hyderabad Deccan, India.[1][2] His grandfather, Ghulam Mohammed Khan, had migrated to Faisalabad District in 1964 from Hyderabad Deccan and later moved to Lahore to work as a sarangi player at Radio Pakistan, Lahore, where he died in 1974. His grandson, Akhtar Hussain, later worked in Sindh province at Khairpur Radio Station as a contract musician for over 22 years playing background sarangi for many folk dramas on radio. He later decided to move to Karachi in 2006 to settle there. He was hired by National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA) in Karachi, where he started earning a reasonable income by playing sarangi there. Music critics often argue that sarangi, out of all bowed string instruments, is the closest to the human voice. They say that when played by a true maestro, sarangi can express the sadness one experiences in love.[1]
In 2009, 50-year-old Akhtar Hussain was struggling through hard times and had taken shelter with his teenaged son in a small home at an imambargah in Karachi. He was not happy with the lack of support for classical musicians by the Government of Pakistan.[2]
Akhtar Hussain's son, Gul Muhammad Hussain, also following the family tradition, became a sarangi player in Karachi, Pakistan and earns Rs. 20,000 a month.[3][4]
In 2009, Akhtar Hussain revealed that he had been suffering from asthma for some time.[2]
In 2011, Akhtar Hussain was ranked among the top five sarangi players of Pakistan.[5]
References
- 1 2 3 4 Sabeen Jamil (23 March 2008). ""I feel like a knight when I play the sarangi," Ustad Akhtar Hussain". The News International (newspaper). Retrieved 1 December 2019.
- 1 2 3 4 Fading notes (scroll down to read about sarangi player Akhtar Hussain) Dawn (newspaper), Published 7 April 2009, Retrieved 2 December 2019
- ↑ "No strings attached: Sarangi player goes through the daily grind even after making it big". The Express Tribune (newspaper). 15 January 2011. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
- ↑ Haneen Rafi (6 March 2017). "Music lovers treated to a superior performance on final day of APMC (All Pakistan Music Conference- Karachi)". Dawn (newspaper). Retrieved 1 December 2019.
- ↑ MairaS (28 November 2011). "Music and culture in Pakistan: Top Five Sarangi Nawaz of Pakistan". Pakistan 360 degrees website. Retrieved 2 December 2019.