Ustad Ustad, ustadh, ustaz or ustadz (abbreviated as Ust., Ut. or Ud.; from Persian language, Persian ''ustād'') is an honorific title used in West Asia, North Africa, Central Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is used in various languages, incl ...

Mohammad Omar (1905–1980) was a musician from

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

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''; ; ; ; ; ; ; ) is a traditional Iranian long-necked two-stringed lute found in Iran and Central Asia. Its name comes from the Persian language, Persian word for "two strings", دوتار ''do tār'' (< � ...

. 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 Kab ...

, 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 and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

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

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. 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'' is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments a ...

by Zakir Hussain. In 1978 he met the German jazz-rock groupe

Embryo An embryo ( ) is the initial stage of development for 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 sp ...

at the

Goethe Institut The Goethe-Institut (; GI, ''Goethe Institute'') is a nonprofit German cultural organization operational worldwide with more than 150 cultural centres, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural ...

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 20th-century Afghan musicians Classical music in Afghanistan {{Afghanistan-musician-stub