Maldives music veteran Melbe dies aged 76

Us’hakuru Ahmed Waheed AKA Melbe (2nd R) performs with The Silhouettes.

Us’hakuru Ahmed Waheed, better known as Melbe, who began his music career in the 1960s at the dawn of Maldives’ music industry, has died at the age of 76.

Melbe died on Thursday in a hospital in Male’, where he was admitted to following heart and kidney failure.

The funeral prayer for Melbe will be held at the Masjid al-Taqwa (Aasahara Mosque) after Dhuhr.

Melbe began his career in music in the 1960s. He played a key role as a member of Silhouettes, which was among the first commercial music bands in the Maldives.

While better known as a keyboardist, he was also apt at playing many other music instruments, including the guitar.

The nickname Melbe is a play on the name of Mel Bay, an American musician and publisher best known for his series of music education books, including his Encyclopedia of Guitar Chords – which remains a bestseller.

People began calling him ‘Melbe’, which translates to ‘Brother Mel’, when he began teaching Mel Bay’s Encyclopedia of Guitar Chords and other books to fellow Maldivian musicians.

“A song becomes melodic because of the cords. With Melbe there, everything would be perfect,” said Ismail Abdulla AKA Vadi Abdulla, who worked with Melbe in the band Sky Sand.

Melbe didn’t just play music, but also helped create new generations of musicians, teaching music and sharing his expertise with bands produced by the national radio Dhivehi Raajjeyge Adu as well as the Cops Band.

Us’hakuru Ahmed Waheed AKA Melbe plays the keyboards for Sky Sand.

“He got along well with people. He had such a good sense of humor. He was always positive. Music was his greatest passion. He talked about wanting to perform at a concert just recently. He was on dialysis three days a week towards the end. But he would say that he could play music on the days he didn’t have dialysis,” recalled Ismail.

Outside of music, Melbe was a long-serving public servant, working as a health assistant at the Health Ministry, and running various public health awareness campaigns including campaigns educating the public on mosquito-borne diseases and prevention measures.