Photo Credits: Image Courtesy Of Calabash Music
Ahmed Mukhtar
Oudist Ahmed Mukhtar plays the traditional style of improvisations (taqsim) on Arabic scales (maqams), and his academic research has resulted in his discovery of a new maqam related to the Arabic philosopher Al -Kindi.
Born in 1967 in Baghdad, as a child Mukhtar was first exposed to oud players and singers on Iraqi television and radio. He felt an immediate affinity with the oud, and was inspired to take up the instrument by the great Iraqi master Munir Bashir in 1979. Mukhtar later attended the Institute of Fine Arts and Music in Baghdad, and his tutor there, Ganam Hadad, encouraged him to become a soloist and recommended different teachers.
Following an appearance on a television program showcasing the younger generation of players and singers, Mukhtar was invited to play festivals and concerts for various institutes. Soon after he began to appear as a soloist and accompanist with the Arabic Orchestra of Music and Muwashshah. His studies would later take him to both the High Institute of Music in Damascus and the London College of Music. After Mukhtar completed his education he performed and worked in television, until he left Iraq and eventually moved to Britain in 1990.
On The Road to Baghdad CD, Mukhtar primarily used traditional maqamat (modes), but on his own compositions he featured his own distinctive, fluid, melodic style of playing. He specifically drew on an Andalusi influence, with flamenco-guitar techniques on the title track, and the oud and small ensemble create a gently wistful sound. While Mukhtar's subject matter was as nostalgic and magical as a tale of old Baghdad, he's capable of being more topical. One song is called "The Dance of War," which used a pre-Islamic rhythm to sinister effect, while "Motherly" was dedicated to the Dublin-born aid worker Margaret Hassan who was kidnapped and murdered in 2004. As Mukhtar put it in an interview in 2006, "I always compose music that embraces people of the world. But my focus is on Iraq, not only because it is my country, but because Iraq is one of the countries that needs help the most." The UN chose Mukhtar and 16 other musicians for a compilation CD that benefited victims of terrorism and war.
When not performing Mukhtar, keeps busy as an educator. He also presented Speech of the Oud, a TV program for an Arabic satellite channel, and in January 2006 his Iraqi-European version of Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale was produced at the Old Vic in London. —Tom Jackson