Ustad Ustād or ostād (abbreviated as Ust., Ut. or Ud.; from Persian language, Persian ) is an honorific title used in West Asia, North Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is used in various languages such as Persian language, Persian, , Azerbai ...

Mohammad Omar (1905–1980) was a musician from

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

who played the rubab.

Early life and career

Mohammad Omar began music lessons under his father, Ibrahim, who taught him singing,

sarod The sarod is a stringed instrument, used in Hindustani music on the Indian subcontinent. Along with the sitar, it is among the most popular and prominent instruments. It is known for a deep, weighty, introspective sound, in contrast with the sweet ...

, rubab and

dutar The ''dutar'' (also ''Dotara, dotar''; fa, دوتار, dutâr; russian: Дутар; tg, дутор; ug, دۇتار, ucy=Дутар, Dutar; uz, dutor; ; dng, Дутар) is a traditional Iranian long-necked two-stringed lute found in Iran and ...

. In the mid-20th century, he was Director of the National Orchestra of

Radio Afghanistan Radio Afghanistan, also known as Radio Kabul or Voice of Sharia, is the public radio station of Afghanistan, owned by Radio Television Afghanistan. The frequencies are 1107 kHz (AM) and 105.2 MHz (FM) for the Kabul area. The name ''Radio Kabul'' ...

, which brought together folk musicians from the different regions and distinct ethnic communities of

. In 1974, Mohammad Omar received a Fulbright-Hays Foreign Scholar Fellowship to teach at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

, making him the first Afghan musician to teach at a major university in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. On November 18, 1974, Mohammad Omar gave a public concert at the university, his first rabab performance in front of a Western audience; he was accompanied on

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

Zakir Hussain Zakir Hussain ( ur, , link=no) is the name of: * Zakir Husain (politician), an Indian politician and former president of India * Zakir Hussain (actor), Bollywood actor * Zakir Hussain (field hockey) (1934–2019), Pakistani field hockey player * ...

. In 1978 he met the German jazz-rock groupe

Embryo An embryo is an initial stage of development of a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male spe ...

at the

Goethe Institut The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...

in Kabul. The concert was filmed for the movie ''Vagabundenkarawane '' by Werner Penzel.

Discography

* ''Embryo's Reise'' 1980 ( Schneeball 20) * ''Virtuoso from Afghanistan'' 2002 (SFW)

Notes

External links

Review of one of his albums on RootsWorld

World Music Central - Ustad Mohammad Omar
1905 births 1980 deaths Afghan musicians Classical music in Afghanistan {{Afghanistan-musician-stub