Classics by nizar qabbani kadim al saher

#Classics by nizar qabbani kadim al saher full#

In 1998, his song Tathakkar, about children dying in the streets of Baghdad, won him a Unicef award and an invitation to work with the UN. More recently, Saher has collaborated with Western stars such as Lenny Kravitz and Sarah Brightman to help to raise awareness about the plight of the thousands of Iraqi refugees. In addition to Qabbani's poems, Saher sang both political and romantic songs about Iraq and Baghdad, highlighting the plight of his compatriots. Qabbani, who wrote songs for legendary singer Umm Kulthum, penned the lyrics to more than 30 of Saher's songs. It was here that he met the famous Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani and began one of the most important collaborations in Arabic music. His career was hindered by the outbreak of the first Gulf War but he moved to Lebanon and began working vigorously on his music.

#Classics by nizar qabbani kadim al saher full#

He went on to record many more hit singles, often using traditional instruments such as the oud, the nai (a flute), tabla, the daf (similar to a tambourine) and the qanoon (an instrument similar to a dulcimer, with 81 strings).Д®ventually, Saher turned his full attention to classical Arabic music, playing scales that had not been used in Iraqi music in several decades, helping to revitalise a tradition. Since he had no money, he traded his bicycle for a guitar and then took private lessons and surrounded himself with music.ДЄt 20, he enrolled in the once-prestigious and bustling Baghdad Music Academy, despite his father's hopes that he would follow a more conventional career.ДЄfter graduating in 1988, he recorded a pop song called A'abart Al Shat ('I went to the shore'), which gained him instant popularity. Saher, who grew up in Nainawa, near Mosul in northern Iraq, began singing at the age of 12. His songs, he says, are 'from the tongues of children directed to the world and the people whose blood was shed in these wars'. Speaking after his live performance on Abu Dhabi TV's Prince of Poets television programme at the Raha Beach Theatre last week, Saher - who has sold more than 30 million albums - says it is the children and the poor who have paid the highest price for the fighting in Iraq. ABU DHABI // Kazem al Saher sings for Iraq like a man in mourning, longing for the days when his country was a thriving hub of arts and culture, before war and poverty ravaged it.