Ferdousi Rahman (Bengali: ফেরদৌসী রহমান) formerly known as Ferdousi Begum (born: 28 June 1941), is the only daughter of folk legend Abbas Uddin. Her music career started in her early years under her father's direction.
She has not only uplifted the great trend of folk music that her father established, she also gave her fans a rich collection of music that includes Modern Song, Classical, Ghazal and Nazrul Shangeet. She participated as a children artiste in many radio programs, but she first sang for the radio as an adult artiste in 1955. She sang as a playback singer for many Bengali and Urdu films. The first released movie where she sang as a playback singer was Ehtesham's 'Ei Desh Tomar Amar' under the music direction of Khan Ataur Rahman in 1959, followed by 'Asia' in 1960. One of the music directors of the movie 'Asia' was her father Abbas Uddin. In 1960, movie 'Rajdhanir Bukey' was released, Ferdausi Rahman gave music direction for the first time for this movie with co-director Robin Ghosh.
Her songs have established a big follower and NTV (Bangladesh) has been airing a program of her songs presented by contemporary artistes. This program has caught the attention of people of all ages and one of the most popular programs on TV.
She has represented Bangladesh as a member of cultural delegations to many countries and sang in many different languages.
In 1964, Rahman's song was the first ever program broadcast in the newly established Pakistan Television in erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). She was awarded President's Pride of Performance Medal in 1965, the prestigious Ekushey Padak in 1973, the Independence Day Award (Shadhinota Dibash Padak) in 1995, Nasiruddin Gold Medal, Film Journalists Award, and many other National awards. She received "National Film Award" in the category of music direction for the film "Megher Onek Rong".
On 17 July 2009, Rahman was awarded a crest and BDT 50,000 as part of the Gunijon Shongbordhona program. The event was attended by Bangladeshi celebrities who spoke about her contribution to and influence on the arts.
Ferdausi Rahman received the lifetime achievement award 2008 at the Meril-Prothom Alo Award ceremony for her outstanding contribution to Bangla music.
Her well known children's program "Esho Gaan Shikhi" was the first program to teach children about music on Bangladesh Television, and the program has been running for 44 years now. This program can be accredited for giving birth to numerous children’s songs that are very near and dear to the heart of any Bengali speaking people. By virtue of this program, she is lovingly called 'Khalamoni' (Aunt) by all the kids in Bangladesh.
She has 2 elder brothers, Former Chief Justice of Bangladesh Justice Mustafa Kamal and renowned singer Mustafa Zaman Abbasi. Her niece Nashid Kamal is also an exponent of Nazrul Geeti, Folk and Classical. Her other nieces who are also singers are Samira Abbasi (in the US) and Sharmini Abbasi (Dhaka). Her grand-niece Armeen Musa, the daughter of Nashid Kamal, is also upcoming artiste of Bangladesh.
Ferdausi Rahman is married to Rezaur Rahman, an engineer and industrialist; and has two sons Rubaiyat Rahman and Razin Rahman, and three grandchildren.
Awards
* Best Music Director -National Film Award of Bangladesh, (for the film "Megher Onek Rong"), 1976
