Ghulam Hossein
Ghulam Hossein ( Persian غلام حسین, DMG Qolām Hossejn ; * 1876 in Charābāt, Kabul ; † September 18, 1967 in Kabul) was an Afghan musician, composer, music and singing teacher.
Life
The Ghulam Hosseins family came to Kabul from the Punjab in what is now India during the Sadozai dynasty, in the time of Emir Shir Ali Chan , and settled in the Kharābāt district. This district is adjacent to the Hinduguzar district in Shor Bazar (bazaar district), in which predominantly Hindus and Sikhs lived and live. His father, Ustād Atta Hossein , was one of the musicians from the Patialaschule who came to Kabul on the initiative of the monarch to revive classical music there. (Modernization of the state and the promotion of culture were goals of Shir Ali Chan.)
Ghulam Hossein learned Sarangi from his uncle Ustad Ghulam Gailani . He later received in Peshawar music lessons - including Raga - Ustad Emamuddin Peshawri. After this study he returned home and founded his own music school in Kharābāt; this and the music school of Ustad Qasem Jo became the most important music schools of classical and modern music in Kabul.
The cautious reforms under Habibullah Khan (1901–1919) and Amanullah Khan (1919–1929) - particularly promoted by his father-in-law Mahmud Tarzi - gave the education system a high (also financially) priority, among other things, arts subjects became a normal part of education. The emerging radio, embodied in Radio Kabul , the predecessor of Radio Afghanistan, opened up a new way of spreading music.
What was needed was a concept for teaching music in schools. Ghulam Hossein worked out one. Like other important musicians, he and his students - Ustad Natu, for example, and Ustad Pir Baksh - also taught at newly founded schools in Kabul in the 1920s, such as the Istaqlal Lycèe, the Habiba-Lycèe and the Darumalemin , a kind of technical college for the teaching post for music.
Conservative forces fought - especially with religious pretexts - the reforms as a whole, especially music lessons. Mullah Abdullah, known as "Mullah e Lang" (Mullah the Lame) stood out among these opponents. After the fall of Amanullah in 1929, they were also able to hinder the development of music in Afghanistan.
Music and literature received a strong boost (Afghan music is closely linked to Persian and Pashto music) when the nationwide radio station Radio Afghanistan was founded in 1939. Ghulam Hossein's music group was integrated into the orchestra of Radio Afghanistan. Radio Afghanistan’s internal music school trained a number of musicians and singers in a four-year course. The teachers also included the two greats of Afghan music, Ustad Qasem Jo and Ustad Ghulam Hossein, as well as their students.
Ustad Ghulam Hossein's music group included:
- Ustad Farch Afandi:
- Ustad Nabi Gul (singer)
- Ustad Mahammad ( tabla player )
- Ustad Merajuddin ( sitar player )
- Ustad Mohammad Omar ( Rubab player )
- Ustad Nazar ( Dilruba player )
In the 1950s the setbacks were overcome and music experienced a new upswing. Music and songs moved into kindergartens. Music was again part of education and society.
Ustad Ghulam Hossein died in 1967. Although already decrepit, he could still experience the success of his life's work in the very open and music-friendly society of the 1950s and 1960s in Afghanistan. As a musician, he had used oriental and Indo-Iranian musical instruments as well as the piano and had encouraged them to occupy themselves with Western music. As a composer he was as famous as Qasem Jo. He had set poems and folk songs to music, many of them generations old. His son Ustad Mohammed Hossein Sarahang continued his work, as did his students, such as Abdul Wahab Madadi , composer, singer and writer of radio plays and one of Afghanistan's many national anthems.
Ghulam Hossein had preserved, expanded and passed on the old tradition of Kabul as a tolerant city, in short: abolished.
In his mind, Kharābāt musicians gave concerts with Western music groups. The video of such a joint concert, given by one of his students, the aforementioned Ruba player Mohammad Omar, with the Munich band Embryo in 1978 , was saved from destruction by the Taliban in 1996 by employees of the Afghan radio RTA.
literature
- Wahab Madadi: History of Afghan Music. Tehran 1996.
See also
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hossein, Ghulam |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Afghan musician, composer, music and singing teacher |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1876 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Charābāt, Kabul |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 18, 1967 |
| Place of death | Kabul |