The Service's Singer

Abdul Bin Alim

The Songs of Wartime

"And to end today's ceremony of remembrance, I would like to leave a few words for our old friend, a true ally for Citizen, Soldier, Sailor, Aviator and Marine alike. I am, of course, referring to the great Abdul Bin Alim, who, in the midst of our darkest hours, kept the spirits of all of us high and bright, with his words and songs, and his acts of kindness and generosity."

— Field Marshal Franz K. Lange.

Abdul Bin Alim was a famous Battezian Singer and Songwriter whose musical and performing career kicked off during the 3rd Great War. He gained the unofficial title of "The Service's Singer", both for the music he produced, a great deal of which was aimed at service members and others during wartime, and for his previous career in the United Commonwealth Army, as a soldier in the 3rd Kalasil Grenadiers.
He became well known for his mass concerts and performances to thousands of service members of the United Commonwealth Armed Forces, including visiting them in active combat theaters, as well engaging with individual troops themselves, such as with his many visits to Military Hospitals.

Personal History

---

In his younger years, Abdul, despite his future musical talent, was not known to have shown a great deal of interest in the musical arts. He was said to be a studious individual to the various adults in his life, generally fulfilling all the academic expectations placed on him by parents and teachers alike.
Still, there lay something rather different beneath that prim and proper surface. Known only to his friends, he had a personal appreciation for a special kind of joke, which would be expressed in such incidences as "The Principal's gonna need one serious car-wash", and "The Chemistry Lab's on Fire!"
These episodes were largely rare, though, and Abdul would still manage to keep himself in check for the most part. At the age of 19, he found himself a chance to enrol into the prestigious University of Umaz, where he hoped to study Chemistry, a subject he enjoyed despite his little accident in school.
However, his plans for a calmer, quieter young adulthood were put in danger by the outbreak of the 1st Great War, in the year 162. All of a sudden, the decades of peace that the 12 Worlds had experienced was brought to a screeching halt, and in the Battezian Empire, as well as the rest of the United Commonwealth, there came a great on rush of Idealism and a willingness to defeat the Ocrisian Empire and its allies who now faced the United Commonwealth, in the name of freedom and liberty.
Abdul, like millions of young people his age or older, was caught in that fervour, and the sight of his friends charging towards recruitment offices, and a desire to show his Father he had what it took to be an adult, he signed on as well, though with a slight discomfort in his gut.
In what felt like no time at all to the future singer, Abdul was enlisted, completed his basic training, and was quickly assigned to the 3rd Kalasil Grenadiers, the same unit his own father had fought in decades before. Now, he would have a few days of leave, before he would be shipped off to the front line. He would spend these days bidding his last farewells to his parents, visiting his old teachers, and attempting to, in his future words, "drink in every bit of my young life, to ensure that whatever happened out there, I would not forget it all."

A War Story

---

Abdul's first foray into the fire of war would be in the rubble and ruin of the city of Xinjing, the capital of the Empire of Ning, a close ally of the Ocrisian Empire. He was sent into that once great metropolis alongside tens of thousands of others on the 9th of June, 163, as part of Operation Long Star, and the next 6 months of his life would be spent in that human hell. Years later, he would recall that "The first day I was deployed in that ruined city, I nearly had my head blown off by a sharpshooter. And that was the best day of the whole damned War!"
This deadly hellscape, which was said to have a daily United Commonwealth casualty rate in the thousands, would also be the place where the young and shell shocked Abdul would be introduced to the musical arts. In those days, the Army had not payed as much attention to that particular facet of morale, but upon hearing of the appalling conditions and general sense of despair and hopelessness among its troops, they decided to take the then unprecedented step to allow musicians from the various ceremonial Corp Bands and private performers to be sent to visit troops on the frontlines. This decision would lead to one glorious night, which would forever change Abdul's life.

The Night Of Music

On that night, A Company, the 3rd Kalasil, was sent further into the outskirts of the main city to lick its wounds from the last week of bloodletting. Abdul said he felt "broken on the inside" by that point, "and if I could go to sleep, and never wake up again, I would have." However, he would not get to lay down quite yet, as he and his comrades were subsequently ordered to gather themselves in an abandoned field before dinner. There, they saw a makeshift stage had been set up, and a rows of chairs had been arrayed in front of it. The soldiers all sat down, and on stage appeared 5 young people, dressed in some strange mash up of civilian clothing and military utilities. The group introduced themselves as the music group "Long Lost Paradise", hailing from the Battezid Empire, and a small roar of appreciation rose from the gathered soldiers at the mention of their homeland they longed to see again, a roar which grew as some soldiers recognised the band from their "civvie" days back home.
The band smiled and waved at their audience, most about as young as they were. The leader of the band, Ms. Leyla Aydin, walked to the front of the stage, and said:

Well, it's my absolute honour to be in front of all of you here today. All of you have sacrificed so much more than we could know over these past few months, and me and my friends here just want to let all you know that we, and the folks back home, appreciate all your work!
We know that you've lost so, so much these past months, and have gone though more suffering than anyone ever should. So, today, me and my crew wanna try our best to show our appreciation, and maybe ease that burden you're all carrying.
With that said, I hope you enjoy what we have in store for you all!

According to Abdul,

"The next hour and a half was a blissful haze of song and laughter. Eventually, I recalled listening to the bands early hits before the war, and they certainly didn't get worse! Those old tunes had me singing like a little bird, and bit by bit I could feel weeks and months of stress built up just...evaporate off my back. For the first time in 3 and a half months, from the day I stepped foot in that ruined hellscape to that cloud covered yet starry night, I smiled... I smiled!

That single performance, for all its suddenness and lack of dressing up, would leave a deep impact on Abdul. After that hour and a half, he would realise the power of music, something he'd only shown mild interest in before. He saw, and heard, the effect that performance had on him and his fellow soldiers, how it lifted the weight off their shoulders and granted them a peace from the storm that they sorely needed. And in that realisation, he knew one thing:
He was going to heal other people, like he'd been healed himself. And he was going to do it through song and music.

Best Foot in the Door

---

After the war, Abdul, alongside many others, was demobilised and allowed to return to civilian life. He ended up with the usual veteran's benefits, and a spot on the reserve list, but otherwise his formal and official time in the Military was over.
However, he still intended on keeping that promise of his. Abdul decided that the best way to get himself a crash course into the musical arts was by tracking down and looking into that same brand that changed his life: Long Lost Paradise. Fortunately, he was able to ask his old commander to help him track them down via official Army paperwork, and after a few weeks, he found himself standing outside a slightly run down warehouse off a winding side road in the city of Ghazicesme, the capital of the Battezid Empire.
That warehouse was the new home of L.L.P. Times had apparently been tough for the band after the War, and they'd been forced to settle for less glamorous work just to stay afloat. Still, they greeted Abdul warmly, after getting over their surprise at seeing him again. Leyla asked Abdul why he decided to "pay a bunch of starving artists a visit", and was stunned when he responded that he wanted to join their ill fated group.
Abdul had to put in a fair bit of effort to make the band come around to his admittance to the group, especially with Mr. Alfonso Candreva, Leyla's co-leader. However, on the basis that he would only be tutored in music making, and not actually allowed to make anything, he would have to help the Band with their more chore-like work, and that he would not actually be paid much for anything he did anyways, he was let onto the team.

The Start of a Career

---

Abdul's first few weeks on the job, despite his low station, were actually rather enjoyable. He'd managed to take the load off the rest of the team, and was actually helpful in using his old Army connections to score the Band a few larger shows. In return, he was eventually given the chance to participate in the actual creative process of Long Lost Paradise.
It turned out that the same mind that had been so creative at coming up with practical jokes on adults in his youth was similarly skilled at the fine art of songwriting. At first limited to merely helping out a little bit with already written songs, he would be encouraged by the rest of the band to start helping out with the writing behind the scenes, where he would be working with all 5 of them to create what would become some of the best hits the Band had ever made.
He also apparently was a good singer. Despite one or two embarrassing incidences in his youth making him heavily doubt his talent in that, the Band assured him that his voice was actually above average, and with some training, they'd want him on stage as soon as they could manage. And they would be right, as shown when he first worked up the confidence necessary to go up in front of an audience for the first time, in the first particularly big event Long Lost Paradise had gotten in a while.
At that concert, in front of over 300 people, Abdul would make his debut into the world of Singing and performing. He wowed the crowd, singing out the same words he had written with the help of the very same people who now stood behind him and blasted their music before an adoring audience. He loved every second he spent on that stage, and when the show was over he repeatedly thanked the audience as they were leaving, as well as his fellow band members, and his own Parents, who had finally decided to see him and his new job.

The Worlds Set Ablaze Again

However, just as the Band was setting itself on the path to success, and Abdul was embracing his newfound life, the peace was shattered mere years from the end of the last Great War, by the outbreak of the 2nd, a conflict that would become every bit as horrifying, murderous, and destructive as the 1st. This War would be against the People's Republic of Griffmark, a nation born out of a military coup that plunged it into autocracy and the oppressive rule of a new unelected government, and the allies that sought to back this pariah state up.
This time, Abdul was absolutely resolved to try and heal and ease the pain and trauma that he knew that the new force of Servicemembers would feel as they embarked on this fresh War. Hence, while calling back the memories of what occurred that faithful day outside that ruined city, he was able to unanimously convince his new found family to go once again to the Military and offer their services.
This time, the Armed Forces would be far better prepared to meet the need for relief and entertainment of those in Service. The Directorate General of Defence, in charge of all military matters in the United Commonwealth, created the brand new Association of Military Performers, in order to collectively administrate and control the large number of official performing artists it knew it would have to in time of crisis.
It was to this new organisation that Long Lost Paradise petitioned to join, and after finding out that they had existing experience in working with the Armed Forces, and that one of their number was a Veteran, the Director of the Association, Brigadier General Kanya Ubon, was more than happy to sign them on.
And with that, Abdul would get his chance, to bravely reach out to those under great stress and hardship, and do his best to lighten that load. And, he would have new friends to help him on that grand quest.

Songs, And Their Reception

---

The songs created by Mr Abdul, during his time working for the Association of Military Performers during the 2nd and 3rd Great Wars were famed for their inspiring and uplifing nature. Tunes like "Generation Sunrise", and "A Cool Night In Agia" would become near instant classics, bolstered by the fact that even with a few odd references to specific places, these songs had a feeling of "commonality", which allowed people haling from every corner of the United Commonwealth to appreciate their sentiments.
The first public performance of his career with A.M.P. took place outside the Army base of Fort Kottai, Republic of Aumha, on the 3rd of March 169 A.S. There, a crowd of some 250 people had gathered, the weary veterans of the past months of fighting on the Alphanian continent. Many of these soldiers had suffered unimaginable hardship during those months, but in future statements many claimed that they felt more calm and serenity in that short concert than they had felt from much else since they had last plunged into battle.
This concert would mark the beginning of a lauded and successful career stretching over the next 12 years, the vast majority of it spent working under the A.M.P. His songs, of course, would also be broadcast on the civilian and commercial networks, where they would gain an even greater following among a populace tired and weary from the years of war, and in need of some form of emotional relief.
Eventually, he would produce, or help to produce, over a dozen tunes over the course of his career with the Armed Forces and the A.M.P., most of which would become near instant classics, still loved many years after the Wars themselves would end. These songs, and the official physical copies of them, are some of the most sought after pieces of art in the United Commonwealth, and are symbols of the sheer cultural and personal impact they had on millions of people across the U.C., helping and healing them, in their darkest hours.

Current Status

In retirement, and mostly focused on philantrophic pursuits

Pronouns

He/Him

Gender

Male