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Akhtar Hussain (sarangi player)

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Musician from Pakistan

Akhtar Hussain
Born1959 (age 64–65)
Hyderabad Deccan, India
CitizenshipPakistani
OccupationSarangi player
ChildrenGul Mohammed Hussain (sarangi player)
RelativesGhulam Mohammed Khan (1910 – 1974) (grandfather)
A noted sarangi player of his time

Akhtar Hussain, (born 1959) is a sarangi player from Karachi, Pakistan.

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 the Nawab.

Early life and family

Akhtar Hussain was born in 1959 in Hyderabad Deccan, India. 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 for Radio Pakistan 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.

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.

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.

In 2009, Akhtar Hussain revealed that he had been suffering from asthma for some time.

In 2023, Akhtar Hussain was rated as a 'stalwart' of the sarngi instrument in Pakistan.

References

  1. ^ Sabeen Jamil (23 March 2008). ""I feel like a knight when I play the sarangi," Ustad Akhtar Hussain". The News International newspaper. Archived from the original on 28 November 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  2. ^ "Fading notes (scroll down to read about sarangi player Akhtar Hussain)". Dawn newspaper. 7 April 2009. Archived from the original on 3 December 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  3. ^ Peerzada Salman (22 May 2023). "(National Academy of Performing Arts) NAPA holds an evening of classical music". Dawn newspaper. Archived from the original on 23 May 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  4. Rafay Mahmood (15 January 2011). "No strings attached: Sarangi player goes through the daily grind even after making it big". The Express Tribune newspaper. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  5. Haneen Rafi (6 March 2017). "Music lovers treated to a superior performance on final day of APMC (All Pakistan Music Conference- Karachi)". Dawn newspaper. Archived from the original on 10 March 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2024.

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