Music of Iraq
Encyclopedia
The music of Iraq or Iraqi music, (Arabic,موسيقى عراقية, also known as the Music of Mesopotamia
) encompasses the music of a number of ethnic groups and musical genres. Ethnically, it includes Arabic music, Assyrian music
, Turcoman, Armenian
, Roma
and Kurdish music
among others. Apart from the traditional music of these peoples, Iraqi music includes contemporary music styles such as Pop Music
, Rock Music
, Soul Music
, and Urban Music
.
Iraq is recognized mainly for three instruments named Oud
, Santur
and Joza
. The most renowned Oudists are Ahmed Mukhtar
, Naseer Shamma
, Rahim Alhaj
, Sahar Taha
and the ethnic Assyrian
Munir Bashir
.
from 760-1260, writers spurned musical notation. The music is melodically modal, and moves in a stepwise motion with repeated notes. Use of the lower end of a melodic range is characteristic, as is the use of silence; one listens through the silence. Following a cadence, the singer moves up to the next range of pitches. An arch shape is discernible, and the work ends in the original mode.
Singers of the Baghdad Court were praised for their excellence in composition, their knowledge of history and songs, and their ornaments and innovations. There was support for female singers and orators, such as the beautiful Arib
, a skilled poetess, calligrapher, lutenist, composer, and backgammon player who wrote more than 1,000 songs. The common instrument (comparable in popularity to the piano or violin in the west) is the oud. Classical Iraqi music is identifiable by the genre/canon, and by how it is performed.
Historically, music would have been played for gatherings of men. With the advent of the sound recording industry, things have changed somewhat. Today one invites musicians to perform at weddings; by the first quarter of the century, concerts were being staged at concert venues.
refers to specific melodic modes. When a musician performs maqam performances, the performer improvises, based on rules. There are a number of different maqams, each with or self own mood and characteristics. There are between fifty and seventy maqams, many of which have sub-styles, and is closely related to Syrian music
, but is less melodious and more melismatic. Other characteristics of Iraqi music include a slow tempo, rhythmically free ornamentation or melodic lines, and predominantly minor modes. Instruments include qanun
, riqq, santur
, darbuka, naqqara, ney
, djose and oud
. Baghdad's tchalgi ensembes typically include the djoze and ney, and may also utilize an oud.
Maqama
texts are often derived from classical Arabic poetry
, such as by Mohammad Mehdi Al-Jawahiri, al-Mutanabbi and Abu Nuwas
, or Persian poets like Hafez and Omar Khayyám
. Some performers used traditional sources translated into the dialect of Baghdad, and still others use Arabic, Turkish, Armenian, Hebrew, Turkmen, Aramaic or Persian language lyrics.
composer Rahmat Allah Shiltegh (1798–1872).
The pesteh, a kind of light song which concludes a maqam performance, has been popularized in the later 20th century, growing more prominent along with the rise of recorded music and broadcast radio. Among the most popular pesteh performers are the husband and wife Selima Murad and Nazim Al-Ghazali.
The most popular modern singers of maqam are Rachid Al-Qundarchi (1887–1945), Youssouf Omar (1918–1987), Nazem Al-Ghazali
(1920–1963), Salim Shibbeth (born 1908), Hassan Chewke (1912–1962), Najim Al-Sheikhli (1893–1938), Mohammed Al-Qubanchi (1900–1989), Hamid Al Saadi (1959-) and Farida Mohammad Ali
(1963- ).
Early in the 20th century, many of the most prominent musicians in Iraq were Jewish., such as Filfel Gourgy.
These included all the instrumentalists who attended the famous 1932 Arabic music congress in Cairo, which the Muslim vocalist Mohammed Al-Quebbantchi also attended. In 1936, Iraq Radio was established with an ensemble made up entirely of Jews, with the exception of the percussion player. The nightclubs of Baghdad also featured almost entirely Jewish musicians. At these nightclubs, ensembles consisted of oud, qanun and two percussionists, while the same format with a ney
and cello
were used on the radio.
One of the reasons for the predominance of Jewish instrumentalists in early 20th century Iraqi music was a prominent school for blind Jewish children, which was founded in the late 1920s. Many of the students became musicians, eventually forming the Arabic Music Ensemble Qol Yisraeli (Israel Radio).
Singers, on the other hand, were Muslim
, Jewish and Christian
. The most famous singer of the 1930s–1940s was perhaps the Jew Salima Pasha
(later Salima Murad).
The respect and adoration for Pasha were unusual at the time, since public performance by women was considered shameful and most female singers were recruited from brothels.
Numerous instrumentalists and singers of the middle and late twentieth century were trained at the Baghdad Conservatory
.
For much of the 20th century, Egypt was the center for Arab popular music, with only a few stars from other countries finding international success. The most famous early composer from Iraq was Ezra Aharon, an oud player, while the most prominent instrumentalist was Daoud Al-Kuwaiti
. Duwad and his brother Saleh
formed the official ensemble for the Iraqi radio station and were responsible for introducing the cello and ney into the traditional ensemble.
In recent years the Iraqi school of oud players has become very prominent, with players such as Salman Shukur
and Munir Bashir developing a very refined and delicate style of playing combining older Arabic elements with more recent Anatolian influences.
features the electric guitar and saxophone, but uses the instruments to reinterpret age-old folk songs.http://www.iraq4u.com/forum/m_1631/mpage_1/key_/tm.htm
Until the fall of Saddam Hussein
, the most popular radio station
was the Voice of Youth, which used to play the popular music of Iraq to continue the culture of the country. The station also played a mix of rock
, hip hop
and pop music
from artists such as Eminem
to R.E.M.
, and both disc jockeys and callers spoke exclusively in English
http://www.iraq4u.com/forum/m_1631/mpage_1/key_/tm.htm, all of which had to be imported via Jordan
due to international economic sanctions
. The Corrs
and Westlife
are especially popular. Iraq has also produced a major pan-Arab pop star-in-exile in Kazem al Saher, whose songs include "Ladghat E-Hayya", which was banned by Saddam Hussein
for its racy lyrical content.
Other modern Iraqi singers include Ali Al Essawi whose song "makhtooba" became huge hit in the Arab world and made him famous throughout the region. Major artists include Shatha Hassoun
, Rahma Mezher
, Majid Al Muhandis
, Hussam Al Rassam, Rida Al Abdullah
and Iraq's very own boyband Unknown to No One
, as well as Acrassicauda
(Iraq's first heavy metal band). There are also ethnic Assyrian
singers such as Klodia Hanna, Ashur Bet Sargis
and Linda George
There are also a number of Kurdish
, Turcoman, Yazidi
, Roma and Armenian
musicians such as Seta Hagopian
.
, where Shia extremists are believed to be responsible. Basra's sea shanties
are well-known throughout Iraq. Music shops in the Summar district have been the target of grenade bombings. Religious leaders have closed some of the concert halls and clubs in the city.
Pablo
Music of Mesopotamia
This article treats the music of Ancient Mesopotamia.Cuneiform sources reveal an orderly organized system of diatonic depending on the tuning of stringed instruments in alternating fifths and fourths. Whether this reflects all types of music we do not know...
) encompasses the music of a number of ethnic groups and musical genres. Ethnically, it includes Arabic music, Assyrian music
Assyrian music
Assyrian music may refer to:*Music in ancient Assyria*Assyrian/Syriac folk music*Syriac sacral music, sacral music in Syriac Christianity...
, Turcoman, Armenian
Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...
, Roma
Roma
- Places :Italy* Rome, the capital of Italy, is called Roma in Italian and some other languages* Roma Tre University, a university located in Rome, Italy, and founded in 1992...
and Kurdish music
Kurdish music
Kurdish music refers to music performed in Kurdish language.Traditionally, there are three types of Kurdish Classical performers - storytellers , minstrels and bards . There was no specific music related to the Kurdish princely courts, and instead, music performed in night gatherings is...
among others. Apart from the traditional music of these peoples, Iraqi music includes contemporary music styles such as Pop Music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, Rock Music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, Soul Music
Soul Music
Soul Music is the sixteenth Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, first published in 1994. Like many of Pratchett's novels it introduces an element of modern society into the magical and vaguely late medieval, early modern world of the Discworld, in this case Rock and Roll music and stardom, with...
, and Urban Music
Urban contemporary
Urban contemporary is a music radio format. The term was coined by the late New York DJ Frankie Crocker in the mid 1970s. Urban contemporary radio stations feature a playlist made up entirely of hip hop/rap, contemporary R&B, pop, electronica such as dubstep and drum and bass and Caribbean music...
.
Iraq is recognized mainly for three instruments named Oud
Oud
The oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...
, Santur
Santur
The santur is a Persian hammered dulcimerIt is a trapezoid-shaped box often made of walnut or different exotic woods. The Persian classical santur has 72 strings. The name santur was first referenced in ancient Persian poetry...
and Joza
Rebab
The rebab , also rebap, rabab, rebeb, rababah, or al-rababa) is a type of string instrument so named no later than the 8th century and spread via Islamic trading routes over much of North Africa, the Middle East, parts of Europe, and the Far East...
. The most renowned Oudists are Ahmed Mukhtar
Ahmed Mukhtar
Ahmed Mukhtar Arabic ,أحمد مختار is an Iraqi musician who is internationally renowned for his playing of the oud. He was born in Baghdad and is a graduate of the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad.- Biography :...
, Naseer Shamma
Naseer Shamma
Naseer Shamma is a renowned Arab Iraqi musician and oud player.He was born in 1963 in Kut, a city on the Tigris River. He is born to a Fayli Kurdish father and a Khazrajite Arab mother. He began studying the oud at the age of 12 in Baghdad, following in the footsteps of Jamil and Munir Bashir...
, Rahim Alhaj
Rahim AlHaj
Rahim AlHaj is an Iraqi American oud musician and composer.-Early life:AlHaj was born in Baghdad, Iraq and began playing the oud at age nine...
, Sahar Taha
Sahar Taha
Sahar Taha is an Iraqi musician and journalist living in Lebanon who co-hosts the Lebanese programme Banat Hawa on LBC. She is best known for playing the oud in both eastern and western music.-Early life and career:...
and the ethnic Assyrian
Assyrian people
The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
Munir Bashir
Munir Bashir
Munir Bashir was an Assyrian musician in Iraq and one of the most famous musicians in the Middle East during the 20th century and was considered to be the supreme master of the Arab maqamat scale system....
.
Classical Iraqi Music
Iraqi classical music necessitates some discussion of the social environment, as well as references to the poetry. Poetry is always rendered clearly. Poetry is the art of the Iraqis, and sung poetry is the finest of all. In BaghdadBaghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
from 760-1260, writers spurned musical notation. The music is melodically modal, and moves in a stepwise motion with repeated notes. Use of the lower end of a melodic range is characteristic, as is the use of silence; one listens through the silence. Following a cadence, the singer moves up to the next range of pitches. An arch shape is discernible, and the work ends in the original mode.
Singers of the Baghdad Court were praised for their excellence in composition, their knowledge of history and songs, and their ornaments and innovations. There was support for female singers and orators, such as the beautiful Arib
Arib
Arib is a town in northern Algeria....
, a skilled poetess, calligrapher, lutenist, composer, and backgammon player who wrote more than 1,000 songs. The common instrument (comparable in popularity to the piano or violin in the west) is the oud. Classical Iraqi music is identifiable by the genre/canon, and by how it is performed.
Historically, music would have been played for gatherings of men. With the advent of the sound recording industry, things have changed somewhat. Today one invites musicians to perform at weddings; by the first quarter of the century, concerts were being staged at concert venues.
Maqam
Across the Arab world, maqamArabic maqam
Arabic maqām is the system of melodic modes used in traditional Arabic music, which is mainly melodic. The word maqam in Arabic means place, location or rank. The Arabic maqam is a melody type...
refers to specific melodic modes. When a musician performs maqam performances, the performer improvises, based on rules. There are a number of different maqams, each with or self own mood and characteristics. There are between fifty and seventy maqams, many of which have sub-styles, and is closely related to Syrian music
Music of Syria
The music of Syria largely emanates from the country's capital and largest city, Damascus. The city has long been one of the Arab world's centers for cultural and artistic innovation, especially in the field of classical Arab music. Syria has also produced several pan-Arab stars, including George...
, but is less melodious and more melismatic. Other characteristics of Iraqi music include a slow tempo, rhythmically free ornamentation or melodic lines, and predominantly minor modes. Instruments include qanun
Qanun
Qanun refers to laws promulgated by Muslim sovereigns, in particular the Ottoman Sultans, in contrast to shari'a, the body of law elaborated by Muslim jurists. It comes from the Greek word kanon...
, riqq, santur
Santur
The santur is a Persian hammered dulcimerIt is a trapezoid-shaped box often made of walnut or different exotic woods. The Persian classical santur has 72 strings. The name santur was first referenced in ancient Persian poetry...
, darbuka, naqqara, ney
Ney
The ney is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Middle Eastern music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. It is a very ancient instrument, with depictions of ney players appearing in wall paintings in the Egyptian pyramids and actual neys being found...
, djose and oud
Oud
The oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...
. Baghdad's tchalgi ensembes typically include the djoze and ney, and may also utilize an oud.
Maqama
Maqama
Maqāma are an Arabic literary genre of rhymed prose with intervals of poetry in which rhetorical extravagance is conspicuous. The 10th century author Badī' al-Zaman al-Hamadhāni is said to have invented the form, which was extended by al-Hariri of Basra in the next century...
texts are often derived from classical Arabic poetry
Arabic poetry
Arabic poetry is the earliest form of Arabic literature. Present knowledge of poetry in Arabic dates from the 6th century, but oral poetry is believed to predate that. Arabic poetry is categorized into two main types, rhymed, or measured, and prose, with the former greatly preceding the latter...
, such as by Mohammad Mehdi Al-Jawahiri, al-Mutanabbi and Abu Nuwas
Abu Nuwas
Abu-Nuwas al-Hasan ben Hani Al-Hakami ,a known as Abū-Nuwās , was one of the greatest of classical Arabic poets, who also composed in Persian on occasion. Born in the city of Ahvaz in Persia, of an Arab father and a Persian mother, he became a master of all the contemporary genres of Arabic poetry...
, or Persian poets like Hafez and Omar Khayyám
Omar Khayyám
Omar Khayyám was aPersian polymath: philosopher, mathematician, astronomer and poet. He also wrote treatises on mechanics, geography, mineralogy, music, climatology and theology....
. Some performers used traditional sources translated into the dialect of Baghdad, and still others use Arabic, Turkish, Armenian, Hebrew, Turkmen, Aramaic or Persian language lyrics.
History
The roots of modern Iraqi maqam can be traced as far back as the Abbassid era, when a large empire was controlled from Baghdad. The music has also gained influences from Persian music. The modern form, however, descends directly from the 19th century TurkmenIraqi Turkmen
The Iraqi Turkmen are an ethnic group who mainly reside in northern Iraq. Estimates of their numbers vary dramatically, in accordance with Iraq's assimilation policies no realistic and independent census results have been revealed regarding the Iraqi Turkmen population...
composer Rahmat Allah Shiltegh (1798–1872).
The pesteh, a kind of light song which concludes a maqam performance, has been popularized in the later 20th century, growing more prominent along with the rise of recorded music and broadcast radio. Among the most popular pesteh performers are the husband and wife Selima Murad and Nazim Al-Ghazali.
The most popular modern singers of maqam are Rachid Al-Qundarchi (1887–1945), Youssouf Omar (1918–1987), Nazem Al-Ghazali
Nazem Al-Ghazali
Nazem El Ghazali was one of the most popular singers in the history of Iraq and his songs are still heard by many in the Arab world. He was born in the Haydar Khanah quarter in Baghdad, and studied at the Institute of Fine Arts in Iraq. He started his career as an actor, and after a few years...
(1920–1963), Salim Shibbeth (born 1908), Hassan Chewke (1912–1962), Najim Al-Sheikhli (1893–1938), Mohammed Al-Qubanchi (1900–1989), Hamid Al Saadi (1959-) and Farida Mohammad Ali
Farida Mohammad Ali
Farida Mohammad Ali is an Iraqi singer. She performs regularly in the Iraqi Maqam Ensemble. The ensemble was established in 1989 in Baghdad by Mohammad H.Gomar to continue of the 1973 ensemble organized by the prominent lute professor Munir Bashir. She had taught maqam singing at the Baghdad...
(1963- ).
Modern era
These included all the instrumentalists who attended the famous 1932 Arabic music congress in Cairo, which the Muslim vocalist Mohammed Al-Quebbantchi also attended. In 1936, Iraq Radio was established with an ensemble made up entirely of Jews, with the exception of the percussion player. The nightclubs of Baghdad also featured almost entirely Jewish musicians. At these nightclubs, ensembles consisted of oud, qanun and two percussionists, while the same format with a ney
Ney
The ney is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Middle Eastern music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. It is a very ancient instrument, with depictions of ney players appearing in wall paintings in the Egyptian pyramids and actual neys being found...
and cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
were used on the radio.
One of the reasons for the predominance of Jewish instrumentalists in early 20th century Iraqi music was a prominent school for blind Jewish children, which was founded in the late 1920s. Many of the students became musicians, eventually forming the Arabic Music Ensemble Qol Yisraeli (Israel Radio).
Singers, on the other hand, were Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
, Jewish and Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
. The most famous singer of the 1930s–1940s was perhaps the Jew Salima Pasha
Salima Pasha
Salima Mourad or Salima Murad was a well known Iraqi Jewish singer and was highly respected both in the Arab world and Israel....
(later Salima Murad).
The respect and adoration for Pasha were unusual at the time, since public performance by women was considered shameful and most female singers were recruited from brothels.
Numerous instrumentalists and singers of the middle and late twentieth century were trained at the Baghdad Conservatory
Baghdad Conservatory
The Baghdad Conservatory is a Baghdad, Iraq music conservatory. Hanna Petros founded the institution in 1936.The conservatory has produced such famous oud players as Munir Bashir and Jamil Bashir, Salman Shukur and Ghanim Haddad. The maqam singer Farida Mohammad Ali had taught there. Also,...
.
For much of the 20th century, Egypt was the center for Arab popular music, with only a few stars from other countries finding international success. The most famous early composer from Iraq was Ezra Aharon, an oud player, while the most prominent instrumentalist was Daoud Al-Kuwaiti
Saleh and Daoud Al-Kuwaity
Saleh and Daud Al-Kuwaity האחים צאלח ודאוד אל-כוויתי) were Jewish - Iraqi musicians born in Kuwait as Saleh and Daud Ezra.-Early life:The brothers were born in Kuwait to a family from an Iraqi origin...
. Duwad and his brother Saleh
Saleh and Daoud Al-Kuwaity
Saleh and Daud Al-Kuwaity האחים צאלח ודאוד אל-כוויתי) were Jewish - Iraqi musicians born in Kuwait as Saleh and Daud Ezra.-Early life:The brothers were born in Kuwait to a family from an Iraqi origin...
formed the official ensemble for the Iraqi radio station and were responsible for introducing the cello and ney into the traditional ensemble.
In recent years the Iraqi school of oud players has become very prominent, with players such as Salman Shukur
Salman Shukur
Salman Shukur was born in 1921 in Baghdad, Iraq. He studied oud under Sherif Muheddin Haydar at the Baghdad Conservatory. Later, he became Professor of oud and the head of the Oriental Music Department at the Institute founded by Sharif Muheddin, and held that post for 30 years. He was also...
and Munir Bashir developing a very refined and delicate style of playing combining older Arabic elements with more recent Anatolian influences.
Pop music
Pop music in Iraq xxxmore often than not means musical motifs and lyrics dating back centuries but performed with a mix of traditional and modern instruments. Kadim Al Sahir, for example, may be nicknamed "the Elvis of the Middle East," but he sings in classical Arabic. Popular musician Ilham al-MadfaiIlham al-Madfai
Ilham al-Madfai is an Iraqi guitarist, singer and composer. al-Madfai's synthesis of Western guitar stylings with traditional Iraqi music has made him a revered and popular artist in his native country and throughout the Middle East...
features the electric guitar and saxophone, but uses the instruments to reinterpret age-old folk songs.http://www.iraq4u.com/forum/m_1631/mpage_1/key_/tm.htm
Until the fall of Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
, the most popular radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
was the Voice of Youth, which used to play the popular music of Iraq to continue the culture of the country. The station also played a mix of rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
and pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
from artists such as Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
to R.E.M.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
, and both disc jockeys and callers spoke exclusively in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
http://www.iraq4u.com/forum/m_1631/mpage_1/key_/tm.htm, all of which had to be imported via Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
due to international economic sanctions
Economic sanctions
Economic sanctions are domestic penalties applied by one country on another for a variety of reasons. Economic sanctions include, but are not limited to, tariffs, trade barriers, import duties, and import or export quotas...
. The Corrs
The Corrs
The Corrs are an Irish band which combine pop rock with traditional Celtic folk music. The brother and sisters are from Dundalk, Ireland. The group consists of the Corr siblings: Andrea ; Sharon ; Caroline ; and Jim .The Corrs came to international prominence with their performance at the...
and Westlife
Westlife
Westlife are an Irish boy band established on 3 July 1998. They are to disband in 2012. The group's line-up was Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, and Brian McFadden . The group are the only act in British and Irish history to have their first seven singles peak at number one...
are especially popular. Iraq has also produced a major pan-Arab pop star-in-exile in Kazem al Saher, whose songs include "Ladghat E-Hayya", which was banned by Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
for its racy lyrical content.
Other modern Iraqi singers include Ali Al Essawi whose song "makhtooba" became huge hit in the Arab world and made him famous throughout the region. Major artists include Shatha Hassoun
Shatha Hassoun
Shada Amjad Nasser Hassoun Alshamery better known as Shatha Hassoun is an Arabic singer from both Iraqi and Moroccan ancestry, who rose to fame as the winner of the 4th season of the pan-Arab television talent show Star Academy Arab World. She was the first female to win the competition...
, Rahma Mezher
Rahma Mezher
Rahma Mezher born January 19, 1987 in Iraq) Al-Basrah, is an Iraqi singer who rose to popularity after participating in Super Star 2, the pan-Arabic version of Pop Idol. Rahma was eliminated from the beginning of the competition...
, Majid Al Muhandis
Majid Al Muhandis
Majid Al Muhandis Al-Otaibi is an Iraqi singer and composer.-Song In Albumi:*Dagat galb*Mo bs hob ahbak*Wahshne moot*Angenit*Ensa*La Tebchin Ya Gaza*"Ouzkourini" *"Waheshni Moot*" *"Ghab El Qamar*"*"Gowa Gowa*"...
, Hussam Al Rassam, Rida Al Abdullah
Rida Al Abdullah
Rida Al Abdulla is an Iraqi singer. He gained enormous attention across the Arab world for his singles "Bo'dak Habibi", "Qasawa", "Dhalim", "Min Trid Abousak", "Al Asabe3", "Melih Wa Zad", "Ya Hali" and many other hits including "Weinkom Ya Arab" , which was a protest song...
and Iraq's very own boyband Unknown to No One
Unknown to No One
UTN1 or Unknown to No One is an Iraqi pop/rock band formed in 1999 in Baghdad - Iraq. It is notable for being a pioneering group that sings in both Arabic and English, and for being formed under Saddam Hussein's regime. It was founded by Shant Garabedian and Artin Haroutiounian...
, as well as Acrassicauda
Acrassicauda
Acrassicauda is an Iraqi thrash metal band formed in 2001. It is often credited as being the first heavy metal group to emerge from Iraq. The band consists of three Arab members and one Assyrian . The band formed and played concerts under the regime of Saddam Hussein...
(Iraq's first heavy metal band). There are also ethnic Assyrian
Assyrian people
The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
singers such as Klodia Hanna, Ashur Bet Sargis
Ashur Bet Sargis
Ashur Bet Sargis , , is an Assyrian Composer and Singer. He became famous in the Assyrian communities worldwide for his nationalistic songs in the seventies.-Early career in Iraq:...
and Linda George
Linda George
Linda George is an ethnic Assyrian singer who resides in the United States Of America. The vast majority of her songs are sung in her native Assyrian language...
There are also a number of Kurdish
Kurdish people
The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
, Turcoman, Yazidi
Yazidi
The Yazidi are members of a Kurdish religion with ancient Indo-Iranian roots. They are primarily a Kurdish-speaking people living in the Mosul region of northern Iraq, with additional communities in Transcaucasia, Armenia, Turkey, and Syria in decline since the 1990s – their members emigrating to...
, Roma and Armenian
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
musicians such as Seta Hagopian
Seta Hagopian
Seta Hagopian is a legendary Iraqi singer of Armenian origin. Her singing career began in 1968 which led to much success for she is known to be the "Warm voice of Iraq" and has been dubbed as Iraq's Fairouz.-Early career:...
.
Effect of 2003 Iraq War
Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq and fall of Saddam Hussein, some militant extremists have been attacking musicians, especially those in the port city of BasraBasra
Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
, where Shia extremists are believed to be responsible. Basra's sea shanties
Sea Shanties
Sea Shanties is the debut album of Progressive Rock band High Tide. The cover artwork was drawn by Paul Whitehead.-Production:Denny Gerrard produced Sea Shanties in return for High Tide acting as the backing band on his solo album Sinister Morning...
are well-known throughout Iraq. Music shops in the Summar district have been the target of grenade bombings. Religious leaders have closed some of the concert halls and clubs in the city.
Further reading
- Badley, Bill and Zein al Jundi. "Europe Meets Asia". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 391–395. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin BooksPenguin BooksPenguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
External links
- BBC Radio 3 Audio (60 minutes): Iraq's classical and gypsy music traditions. Accessed November 25, 2010.
- BBC Radio 3 Audio (60 minutes): Ilham Al-Madfai. Accessed November 25, 2010.
- Iraq4u Music
- Sephardic Pizmonim Project by Jewish community of the Middle East.
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