US EUROPE AFRICA ASIA 中文
    World / Middle East

    Iraqi musician to return home

    By Mynardo Macaraig in Manila (China Daily / Agencies) Updated: 2013-01-09 08:47

    After years in exile, a master of an ancient instrument decides to bring his haunting music back to Baghdad

    A former Iraqi soldier and prisoner who brought one of the world's oldest stringed instruments back into the spotlight is set to end his exile and take his haunting songs home.

    Naseer Shamma is something of a global ambassador for the oud - a pear-shaped, six-stringed wooden instrument that hails from ancient Mesopotamia - but has avoided reaping the fruits of fame in his tumultuous homeland.

    Iraqi musician to return home

    Ten years since the fall of Saddam Hussein, however, Shamma has decided to return and end an exile borne out of oppression. "We need to help, to do something important for Iraqi people and Iraqi culture," the 49-year-old said during a visit to the Philippines for a concert.

    Shamma first became entranced with the lutelike instrument when he was a child, later studying with oud master Munir Bashir and at the Baghdad Academy of Music in the late 1980s.

    He went on to gain fame across the Arab world as both musician and composer, shocking purists by daring to go beyond tradition to make the instrument - the oldest recorded depiction of which is 5,000 years old - more contemporary, combining it with classical or jazz influences.

    Ouds from Baghdad were once renowned for their quality and were exported all over the region, but war and unrest took their toll on the oud makers.

    Conscripted into the army, Shamma served as a soldier during the first US-led war on Iraq in 1991, after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. "There was no real fighting. You just saw missiles coming in and you could not do anything. We never saw an enemy soldier," he recalled.

    Shamma said he was also jailed for several months in 1993 over "politics", but declined to elaborate.

    He left Iraq and moved to Tunisia for five years where he taught music, and then to Egypt, establishing the Arab Oud House to teach people how to play the "grandfather" of stringed instruments.

    His expertise extended to following an ancient manuscript to build his own version of a 9th-century, eight-stringed oud. He also devised a one-handed method of playing the instrument, inspired by soldiers who lost limbs during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

    Even after the fall of Saddam in 2003, the Iraqi musician refused to go home and did not return to his native land until last year when he performed three concerts.

    "Life has changed completely - the people have changed too," he said. He feared cultural values were being eroded. He saw a new kind of people. "They have power, they have money, and life is confused," he said. "I felt that this is not my country, these are not my people."

    The last US troops withdrew in December 2011. Though levels of violence are down from their 2005-2008 peak, attacks remain common.

    But Shamma said he aimed to counter such extremism with culture and art, spurred on by the fact that the Arab League has designated Baghdad "Arab Capital of Culture" in 2013.

    "There are thousands (of potential students) in Iraq. They contact me on the Internet. They ask me when I will be in Baghdad because they need to learn.

    "At my last concert in Baghdad, I had a nice feeling with the audience," he said. "There are good moments coming."

    Agence France-Presse

    Trudeau visits Sina Weibo
    May gets little gasp as EU extends deadline for sufficient progress in Brexit talks
    Ethiopian FM urges strengthened Ethiopia-China ties
    Yemen's ex-president Saleh, relatives killed by Houthis
    Most Popular
    Hot Topics

    ...
    97精品人妻系列无码人妻| 亚洲一区无码中文字幕| 亚洲日韩v无码中文字幕| 亚洲va无码手机在线电影| 最好看最新的中文字幕免费| 99精品一区二区三区无码吞精| 特级做A爰片毛片免费看无码| 亚洲精品欧美精品中文字幕| 97精品人妻系列无码人妻| 亚洲国产精品无码久久久蜜芽| 久久中文字幕无码专区| 亚洲精品无码鲁网中文电影| 日韩电影无码A不卡| 日韩精品无码一区二区三区不卡 | 亚洲中文久久精品无码| 中出人妻中文字幕无码| 无码人妻精品一区二区蜜桃AV| 国产精品99精品无码视亚| 无码国内精品人妻少妇| 国产丝袜无码一区二区三区视频 | 日韩乱码人妻无码中文字幕 | 久久久久亚洲?V成人无码| 无码精品A∨在线观看| 亚洲av中文无码乱人伦在线咪咕| 免费一区二区无码东京热| 国内精品久久久久久中文字幕| 最好看的2018中文在线观看| 亚洲AV无码一区二区大桥未久| 成人无码一区二区三区| 精品无码国产污污污免费网站 | 精品无码人妻一区二区三区| 无码无套少妇毛多18PXXXX| 夜夜添无码一区二区三区| 久久亚洲AV无码精品色午夜| 无码粉嫩小泬无套在线观看| 中文字幕人成乱码在线观看| 亚洲中文字幕无码爆乳av中文| 欧美精品丝袜久久久中文字幕| 亚洲中文字幕视频国产| 亚洲欧洲日产国码无码网站 | 91精品日韩人妻无码久久不卡|