Alaur Rahman (; born 1961) is a Bangladeshi-born British singer.

Early life

Rahman was born in Alagdi, Jagannathpur,

Sunamganj Sunamganj (, is a town in the Sylhet Division of northeastern Bangladesh. It is the administrative headquarters and largest town of Sunamganj District. It is located on the banks of the Surma River, approximately west-northwest of Sylhet, the ...

Sylhet District Sylhet District (), located in north-east Bangladesh, is one of the four districts in Sylhet Division, which contains Sylhet, the regional capital. History Sylhet District was established on 3 January 1782, and until 1878 it was part of Benga ...

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

(now

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

). He attended Madrasa, primary school and The Aided High School, where he would also sing

hamd Hamd () is a word that exclusively praises God - whether written or spoken. Thus, The word "Hamd" is always followed by the name of God (Allah) - a phrase known as the Tahmid - "al-ḥamdu li-llāh" (Arabic: ) (English: "praise be to God"). The ...

, na'at,

qasida The qaṣīda (also spelled ''qaṣīdah''; plural ''qaṣā’id'') is an ancient Arabic word and form of poetry, often translated as ode. The qasida originated in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry and passed into non-Arabic cultures after the Arab Mus ...

and other religious songs as well as songs dedicated to Bangladesh. In 1977, at the age of 14, Rahman came to the United Kingdom with his parents. He attended Pandit Horidas Ganguly School where he learned North Indian classical music.

Career

In 1985, Rahman appeared on

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

programme ''Naya Zindagi, Naya Jeevan'' and sang ghazal and modern songs live. In the same year, Rahman recorded a 12-track debut album ''Smaranepare (Shoronay Poray)''. Rahman composed music for all 12-tracks, which were arranged by Qutbuddin and the lyrics were written by Abdul Mukit, Nurul Ghani, Delwar Khan and Shamsheer Qureshi. The album was produced and released by Jhankar Music. In 1986, he performed on

Bangladesh Television Bangladesh Television (), commonly known by its acronym BTV (), is the state-owned television network of Bangladesh. The network was originally established as the East Pakistan branch of Pakistan Television Corporation, Pakistan Television in 1 ...

(BTV). In 1992, he performed on television programme about he Bangladeshi community of East London. In the 1990s, Rahman became one of the leading singers in Britain's Bengali community and went on to sell numerous songs. His musical influences are

Mohammed Rafi Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and range of voice ...

Mehdi Hassan Mehdi Hassan Khan (; 18 July 1927 – 13 June 2012), known as Mehdi Hassan, was a Pakistani ghazal singer and playback singer of great renown. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential figures in the history of ghazal singing, ...

, Ghulam Ali, Nurul Ghani and

Talat Mahmood Talat Mahmood (24 February 1924 – 9 May 1998) was an Indian playback singer who is considered as one of the greatest and most popular Indian male film song and ghazal singers. Although he tried his luck as a film actor, he did not succeed a g ...

. Rahman moved onto making spiritual and religious music and was selected by

Ekushey Television Ekushey Television (; , in reference to 21 February), also known by its acronym ETV, is a Bangladeshi Bengali-language privately owned satellite and cable television channel. It is headquartered in Kawran Bazar, Dhaka, and is Bangladesh's first ...

to be the voice of the

Adhan The (, ) is the Islamic call to prayer, usually recited by a muezzin, traditionally from the minaret of a mosque, shortly before each of the five obligatory daily prayers. The adhan is also the first phrase said in the ear of a newborn baby, ...

(call to prayer). Rahman has sung over 600 songs, which include

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

and

Bangla Bangla () may refer to: *Bengali language, an eastern Indo-Aryan language *The endonym of Bengal, a geographical and ethno-linguistic region in South Asia *''Bangla-'', a prefix indicating Bangladesh *West Bengal, a state in eastern India, also kn ...

songs. His best of album ''Best of Alaur Rahman'' was released by Serengeti Sirocco. His songs are about the loss of a sense of belonging and the material conditions that underpin his life in Britain. Alaur Rahman has sung over 600 songs, which have been sung in many languages such as Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, Gujrati and more.

Awards

Rahman has won numerous awards globally. These have included awards from

Zee TV ZEE TV also known as Z TV is an Indian Hindi language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It was launched on 1 October 1992 as the oldest privately owned television channel in India. History ...

Channel i Channel i () is a Bangladeshi Bengali-language satellite and cable television channel owned by Impress Group. It was launched on 1 October 1999, as Bangladesh's first digital television channel. It is one of the oldest satellite television chan ...

ATN ATN is the Sydney Flagship (broadcasting), flagship television station of the Seven Network in Australia. The licence, issued to a company named Amalgamated Television Services, a subsidiary of Fairfax Media, John Fairfax & Sons, was one of the ...

Bangla TV Bangla TV () is a Bengali-language satellite television channel based in the United Kingdom and Bangladesh. It was established in the United Kingdom on 16 September 1999, targeting Bengali audiences both there and in Europe. It commenced transm ...

and

Channel S Channel S () is a UK-based, free-to-air television channel targeting the British Bangladeshi community. The channel was established on 16 December 2004 by Mahee Ferdous Jalil, a Bangladeshi businessman in London. On Sky (UK & Ireland), Sky it ...

, where he has won awards for being the best singer.

Personal life

In 1986, Rahman married Rozina Rahman. They have two sons Rabi and Ra’id, and a daughter Aniqa.

References

External links

*
Alaur Rahman
on ''

British Bangladeshi Who's Who ''British Bangladeshi Who's Who'' is an annual publication highlighting the accomplishments, contributions and achievements of successful British Bangladeshis. It was established in 2008 and also holds an annual award ceremony in London, England. ...

'' *Iqbal, Jamil
Mr. Alaur Rahman
''Swadhinata Trust''. 7 April 2006 1960 births Living people Date of birth missing (living people) Bangladeshi Muslims 20th-century Bangladeshi male singers 20th-century Bangladeshi singers Bangladeshi emigrants to England 21st-century Bangladeshi male singers 21st-century Bangladeshi singers 21st-century British male singers Hindi-language singers Bengali-language singers Urdu-language singers Singers from London People from Jagannathpur Upazila The Aided High School alumni University of Dhaka alumni {{UK-singer-stub