Nashid Kamal

Nashid Kamal (born 19 March 1958) is a Bangladeshi vocalist, writer and professor of demography. She is the eldest granddaughter of Bengali folk singer Abbasuddin Ahmed. Kamal is widely regarded as a Nazrul exponent. For her contributions to Nazrul's works, she has received awards including the Nazrul Award from the Nazrul Academy in 2009 and Nazrul Padak from the Nazrul Institute in 2014.

Background Kamal, the eldest of three children, was born in London, England to parents Mustafa Kamal and Husne Ara Kamal. Her father was a judge and served as the Chief Justice of Bangladesh. Her mother was a poet, philanthropist and professor. She was the Chairman of the Department of Social Welfare at Dhaka University before she took her retirement. She has two sisters, Naeela Sattar and Nazeefa K. Monem. Her uncle, Mustafa Zaman Abbasi, is a Bangladeshi musicologist and aunt, Ferdausi Rahman, is a singer . At the age of two, Nashid Kamal moved with her parents to Bangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan), her mother country, to live permanently.

Kamal started singing at a young age. On 25 December 1964, she appeared on Pakistan Television (PTV), East Pakistan Centre, which is now Bangladesh Television (BTV) as a child singer on its inauguration day. Kamal was awarded with the Best Speaker prize in 1976, when she participated in the first ever TV debate competition in Bangladesh called Torko Jukti Torko.

Kamal married Dr. Anis Waiz in 1993, who served in the Bangladesh Army and retired as a major general. He died in 2002. She has two daughters, Armeen Musa and Aashna Musa from her first husband Hossain Md. Musa. Armeen, a singer-songwriter herself, conducts the choir Ghaasphoring. Aashna is a lawyer/civil servant and resides in the U.K. Nashid Kamal lives in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Education Kamal attended the Holy Cross Girls' High School, and stood 7th in the merit list for girls in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination in 1973. In 1975, she sat for Higher Secondary Examination (HSC) from the Holy Cross College, and stood 2nd in the combined merit list. She studied statistics for her BSc (Hons) degree at the University of Dhaka, and passed with a first-class-first in 1980 (record marks). Subsequently, Kamal went on to Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario in Canada to do her MSc in mathematics, and achieved the degree in 1982.

Career

Researcher Nashid Kamal's professional career as a researcher started in 1983, when she joined ICDDR.B. She worked there for three years. She had, also, been a consultant to UNFPA in Bangladesh (1999) and Sudan (2001). She has more than 25 publications in peer-reviewed journals including the widely acknowledged health journal – The Lancet. Jui Phuler Verandah and Rideau Nodir Dharey are Kamal's famed autobiographies that feature her life events in home and abroad. The Glass Bangles, written in English, is a novel about a Bangladeshi Sylheti girl married to someone living in London. Ajibon Bosonto is one of her favourite books that is a collection of fourteen short stories. Chiro Unnoto Momo Sheer and Ei Achi Ei Nai are two books of collected articles edited by Kamal that feature her parents, Justice Mustafa Kamal and Professor Husne Ara Kamal, respectively. The Garden of Errors is another collection of articles written by Kamal herself, and includes selected writings published in popular daily and weekly newspapers and magazines like the People, Holiday, Daily Star and Probe since 1972. Her latest book is published by Journeyman in 2021. It is titled 'Chasing Dreams' an autobiography of Md. Hafizur Rahman edited by Nashid Kamal (maternal grandfather).

Vocalist Nashid Kamal is singing for over four decades. She is widely known for her reputation as a fine singer of Nazrul Shongeet and Bengali Folk songs. Producer = Format = CD Other info = Nazrul Geeti