Azrin Abdullah started learning the acoustic guitar at the age of six. He gave his first musical performance when he was nine and never looked back since.
In 1999, Azrin began his love affair with the gambus. He was tasked to learn the instrument when he was part of the music wing of Persatuan Kemuning, led by Salleh Buang. He then continued learning as part of his endeavour to master traditional Malay music.
Back then, to master the gambus meant to learn from the maestros in Egypt. However, due to limited resources, this was not possible for him. Therefore, he learnt on his own by listening to cassettes found at Tower Records, and later on, from YouTube. He also looked towards other gambus musicians from the region such as Malaysians Fadzil Ahmad (also known as Malaysian King of Gambus) and Raja Zulkarnain, and the late Fahad Munif from Indonesia for guidance and inspiration.
In 2014, Azrin was sponsored by the National Arts Council to pursue an advanced course at the National Conservatory of Arts in Kuala Lumpur to further his knowledge of the gambus. After completing the course, he went on to produce the first Singapore Gambus Conference, which was held at the Malay Heritage Centre from 25-30 October 2016 in conjunction with the Malay Culture Festival. The well-attended event saw speakers and gambus enthusiasts from Singapore and around the world gather to share their knowledge of the instrument.
His early challenges in learning how to play the gambus motivated him to advocate and create accessible opportunities for new players and enthusiasts to learn the instrument. This, as well as the success of the 2016 Singapore Gambus Conference spurred Azrin to form the Singapore Oudists (SGOudists), an online oud community that provides local oud players from all walks of life with a platform to get together and share techniques and playing styles.
Azrin is currently the President of Oudists Association of Singapore.
