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Article source: My UK Life: the Iraqi oud master who refused to play for Saddam Hussein | The National

My UK Life: the Iraqi oud master who refused to play for Saddam Hussein

Ahmed Mukhtar remembers being different from other children growing up in Baghdad.

Every afternoon, TV programmes in Iraq would begin the same way, at 4pm on the dot, with the melodious sound of the oud. For many children the music was little more than a signal that they would soon be watching one of their favourite shows. But for the then six-year-old Mr Mukhtar, the oud – a pear-shaped stringed instrument similar to a guitar – was the main attraction.

“I loved the oud from the first time I saw it on the TV and heard it,” said Mr Mukhtar, who left Iraq in 1996 to study in the UK. He applied for asylum and stayed, building a life in London, where he teaches oud and Arabic percussion.

“Other children didn’t care about the oud. They liked Mickey Mouse. They would see the oud music was playing and they would say ‘oh it’s the music’ and come back. I came to listen to the oud and after that I continued watching,” he told The National.

Mr Mukhtar soon began to learn the instrument, and as a child was once made to perform in front of Saddam Hussein, who had a soft spot for the traditional Arab instrument.

An oud class run by Ahmed Mukhtar. Victoria Pertusa / The National

Mr Mukhtar went on to master it, and with that expertise came an expectation to play regularly for the Iraqi leader – an obligation he had no intention of fulfilling. “The situation was horrible. There was no freedom. They used the music for the purpose and target of the dictatorship, to play for them.”

If you did not do that “you faced a lot of problems” and could not play the oud where you liked, he said. “You were not a free person,” added Mr Mukhtar. “I found the opportunity to escape so I left.”

He had read about London and sights such as Big Ben, before he came. “I had a nice picture of London,” he said. He quickly settled in and was happy, receiving support to study English, which he can now speak fluently, and to attend university.

Making and playing the oud – in pictures

The Syrian oud has been recognised on Unesco's Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list. All photos: Reuters
 

“I found a lot of nice things [in the UK]. I liked it. I could live my life and do my favourite things,” he said. These included the oud, which he continued to study as part of a master’s degree in Middle Eastern Music at Soas – the School of Oriental and African Studies. He also studied performance and teaching.

The instrument was first found in Babylon, in ancient Iraq, around 5,000 years ago. Legend has it that it was made from the bones of Lamak, the sixth grandson of Adam. Playing the oud involves improvisation, matching its more than 25 scales to the mood of the occasion.

Mr Mukhtar is now an oud master, but he still spends much of his spare time practising, when he is not teaching others to play for Soas at the Arab British Centre. “You need to study and practise continually. I now do two hours a day but before I did more than this,” he said.

Mr Mukhtar composes title and documentary music and is working on his seventh album. He also performs all over the world.

Mr Mukhtar is an oud master, but he still spends two hours a day practising. Victoria Pertusa / The National

“In the UK I have been to a lot of cities, from Edinburgh to Cardiff, to many places. And I travelled around Europe as well,” he said. “In some countries I have performed five or six times, like Holland, France and Spain. I have also performed in India and Thailand.”

Many of his students are Arab, but not all. He has some English students. “The oud helps me be in touch with many people who love Arab culture. They love Iraq and the heritage,” he said.

It also helps him stay spiritually connected to his homeland, a place he still visits. “When I play my emotions go to the area of Iraq and sometimes the places of Iraq,” he said.

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The unfretted Oud may be the hardest of all instruments to play, with its delicately flattened intervals, but Mukhtar extracts magic: he can make it dream, gallop, or thunder, and he uses silence to great effect.
~Michael Church | The Independent~
The concepts of the great Arabic philosopher, Al- Kindi, are the foundation on which Ahmed Mukhtar has developed his skills in playing the Oud. He practices Al- Kindi theoretical concepts, by using music liberated from clinched predictable styles, music based on the rich wonderful musical traditions, but at the same time enriched by the spirit of contemporary music.
~Al-Hayat Newspaper~
Ahmed Mukhtar’s blessed fingers fashioning shades and shapes from his instrument that most people can only dream of. Veering from sprightly melodic segments to passages of innovative strokes and strums, the effect is a unique excursion to the heart and soul of sensual acoustics.
~People Sound~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Iraqi Oud in the British Museum – Albukhary Gallery Openning 

العود العراقي في المتحف البريطاني – معرض البخاري

 

العود العراقي يدخل ضمن مقتنيات المتحف البريطاني – ايلاف

المقالة في اللغة العربية –> click here

 

The Iraqi Oud has been chosen as one of the artifacts to be displayed in the new permanent exhibition.

Article in English –> click here

 

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Borderless Leominster Community Centre, Leominster, Herefordshire

 

The Jazz Mann – 9th October 2018

Concert Review by Ian Mann

 

 

click here

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Oud and  Strings – A Meeting Point for East and West

London Strings Festival, Concert Review – 26th September 2018

 

Concert Review by Ruba Hillawi

 

click here

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“Music Heals the Soul” – Interview with Iraqi Oud Master, Ahmed Mukhtar 

 

FRRME COMMS – 4th September 2018
Interview by Alex Wentworth

 

click here

 

photo credit: Colin Bailey

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اصابع بابلية في لندن 
Babylonian Fingers in London

 

جريدة الصباح – عراق
Assabah Newspaper, Iraq

 

click here

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Ahmed Mukhtar and Oud: Communicating Experiences

Serenada Magazine, Goa, India – 2nd April 2017
Interview by Sebanti Chatterjee

click here

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Awards Balance media’s distorted view of Britain’s Muslims

Saudi Gazette – 13 April 2009

Written by Susannah Tarbush

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Award for Excellence 

 

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Global Rhythm Magazine with Ahmed Mukhtar

Global Rhythm – February 2006

Written by Bruce Miller

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Classical music meets Saddam’s notorious torture-house

The Independent, UK – 24 January 2006

Article by: Michael Church

click here

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The Road to Baghdad

Global Rhythm – 22 September 2005

By Stacy Meyn 

click here

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Ahmed Mukhtar: Sound of Baghdad

Review of The Soldier’s Tale, music by Mukhtar 

The Independent, UK – 10 March 2003

Written by Michael Church

click here

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Word on Your Street: The Global Music Challenge – Musician’s Stories (WOMAD 2003)

BBC Radio, UK – 2003

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Rhythms of Baghdad – Album Review

Nexus Magazine – April/May 2003 

Reviewed by Richard Giles 

click here (see page 74)

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