Arab Talk

Rahim AlHaj, virtuoso oud musician and composer, was born in Baghdad, Iraq and began playing the oud (the grandfather of all stringed instruments) at age nine. Mr. Alhaj studied under the renowned Munir Bashir, considered by many to be the greatest oud player ever, and Salim Abdul Kareem, at the Institute of Music in Baghdad, Iraq. In 1991, after the first Gulf War, Mr. AlHaj was forced to leave Iraq due to his activism against the Saddam Hussein regime and began his life in Jordan and Syria. He moved to the US in 2000 as a political refugee and has resided in Albuquerque, NM ever since.

Rahim AlHaj has performed hundreds of concerts all over the world, on tour with Munir Bashir, as well as solo and with his string quartet, including in the Middle East, Europe and the United States. Rahim’s music delicately combines traditional Iraqi maqams with contemporary styling and influence. His compositions are about the experience of exile from his homeland and of new beginnings in his adopted country. His songs establish new concepts without altering the foundation of the traditional Iraqi School of Oud.

Mr. AlHaj currently has four CDs. His latest, When the Soul is Settled: Music of Iraq, produced by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings was released in June 2006 at a performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Friendship: Oud and Sadaqa String Quartet, a unique musical collaboration between East and West, was released in December 2005 on Fast Horse Recordings label and received two Grammy nominations. The Second Baghdad, (2002) and Iraqi Music in a Time of War, (2003) are both produced by VoxLox Records. His plans for 2007 CD releases include Home Again, touching and evocative original compositions portraying his trip to Iraq after 13 years in exile and a flamenco guitar/oud CD with Ottmar Liebert, Jon Gagan and Barrett Martin.

Rahim won the Albuquerque Arts Alliance Bravo Award 2003 for Excellence in Music and was dubbed: “The Prophet with an Oud” by a music reviewer at the College of William and Mary. Mr. AlHaj’s CD’s have become best sellers and are frequently featured on national radio shows and movies worldwide, including the BBC, NPR All Things Considered, ABC National Radio Australia, Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now and NPR’s Studio 360. Arab Talk was honored to host him in the studio on March 15th, 2007.

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