During the Iran-Iraq war, Baghdad-born oud master Rahim AlHaj was imprisoned and tortured by Saddam Hussein’s government for his political activism. He fled to Jordan and eventually found refuge in the U.S., settling in Albuquerque in 2000, and there he’s continued to preserve and develop the music of the oud—the pear-shaped, double-coursed string instrument at the heart of the roughly 5,000-year-old Arabic musical tradition.…
During the Iran-Iraq war, Baghdad-born oud master Rahim AlHaj was imprisoned and tortured by Saddam Hussein’s government for his political activism. He fled to Jordan and eventually found refuge in the U.S., settling in Albuquerque in 2000, and there he’s continued to preserve and develop the music of the oud—the pear-shaped, double-coursed string instrument at the heart of the roughly 5,000-year-old Arabic musical tradition.…