Ahmed Mukhtar

Ahmed Mukhtar Arabic ,أحمد مختار (born 1967) is an Iraqi musician who is internationally renowned for his playing of the oud. He was born in Baghdad and is a graduate of the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad.

Biography

Ahmed was born in 1967 in Baghdad, Iraq and has played the oud and Arabic percussion since 1979. He worked with many folk music groups and musicians in Baghdad. He studied Oud and percussion with the masters Ganim Hadad and Jameel Jerjis and graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad. Ahmed worked with Arabic orchestras and performed on TV with several Iraqi groups. He went on to study Oud and western percussion at the high institute of music in Damascus. Later he studied at the London College of Music. At School of Oriental and African Studies - University of London, he earned a Master of music in performance, also Middle Eastern and Arabic music. Teaching Oud, percussion and Arabic music theory in many places in London such as SOAS-London University. From 1990 he became a performer and teacher and toured throughout the Middle East and Europe.

Mukhtar has written music for plays and documentaries for Arabic TV stations, such as MBC, ART, Mustakela and BB5, he also has composed music for a new Iraqi-European version of Stravinsky's Histoire du Soldat (A Soldier's Tale) that produced at The Old Vic at the end of January 2006. He released two CDs, in 1996 and 1999, both of which contain traditional music and original work. ARC music...
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