When the Soul Is Settled: Music of Iraq

Rahim Alhaj is the caretaker of a vital strand of Iraqi musical tradition. He learned in Baghdad with Munir Bashir and other great 20th-century player/teachers. AlHaj left Iraq under political pressure in the 1990s, resettling in New Mexico, and now shapes his musical inheritance for future generations in his own way, in his own time. These nine extended improvisations on the oud, the short-necked Arabian lute, treat us to a creative artist's impression of a proud tradition meeting modernity. Souhail Kaspar accompanies AlHaj on Near Eastern percussion. Extensive bilingual notes, photos, bibliography and discography included. 9 tracks, 73 minutes of music, 32 page booklet.