Musicologist Mustafa Zaman Abbasi no more

Legendary musicologist, singer, composer, researcher and writer Mustafa Zaman Abbasi has passed away. He was 89.

Abbasi breathed his last on Saturday morning, May 10, at a hospital in Dhaka's Banani, said his daughter Sharmini Abbasi.

Sharmini said her father had been suffering from various old age complications, and on Friday, May 9, he was hospitalised with breathing problem.

He left behind wife, two daughters and host of relatives and well-wishers.

Abbasi, son of folk singer-composer Abbas Uddin Ahmed, was born on December 8, 1936. His eldest brother Mustafa Kamal was the Chief Justice of Bangladesh and his sister Ferdousi Rahman is a renowned singer.

As of 2016, he served as a senior research scholar at the "Kazi Nazrul Islam and Abbasuddin Research and Study Centre" of Independent University, Bangladesh.

He was awarded Ekushey Padak in 1995.

Abbasi learned music from Indian classical musicians including Ustad Muhammad Hussain Khasru and Ustad Gul Mohammad Khan.

He published more than 50 books, including two books on Bhawaiya music with staff notation of about 1,200 songs and books on poems of Jalaluddin Rumi, Niffari and Sultan Bahu.

His books include "Abbasuddin Ahmed, Manush o Shilpi", "Kazi Nazrul Islam, Man and Poet" and "Puribo Ekaki”.

He anchored television programmes including "Amar Thikana" and "Bhora Nadeer Banke”

UNB contributed this report.