Ustad Mohammad Omar has been played on NTS in shows including NTS Guide to…, featured first on 15 May 2024. Songs played include Rubab Solo.

Afghan rebâb virtuoso Ustad Mohammad Omar, who was born sometime in the early 20th century, came to the United States in 1974 to Seattle’s University of Washington as an artist-in residence in the ethnomusicology department. On 18 November 1974, he gave his only U.S. concert, at the university’s Meany Hall. He was accompanied by 24-year-old Zakir Hussain, a budding Indian tabla player. Hussain went on to become a world-renowned tabla virtuoso. Ustad Mohammad Omar returned to Afghanistan after his year in Seattle and died in 1980.