The renewer of Iraqi music prepares a song of hope

Ilham Al Madfai: If the epidemic continues, I will open my window and sing about it for the people

Al Madfai: We must continue singing in all circumstances in order to send a message of hope to the world.

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Iraqi musician Ilham Al-Madfai, who about half a century ago revolutionized the Iraqi song, by introducing Western instruments to traditional songs, is preparing to release a new song centered on hope in the post-pandemic phase.

This rebellious seventieth musician, known for bringing joy to the Iraqi song, which is often overwhelmed by the tinge of sadness, making young people dance to its tunes, says in his new song, whose lyrics were written by the young Jordanian poet Omar Sari, and with the participation of the Iraqi singer Nadine Khalidi: “After the absence, it is necessary. You come back, your dream is clouds, your sadness is a mirage, a lute with tenderness, your voice is ringing, let the sad people forget reproach. ”

Al-Madfai said from his home in Amman, where he was quarantined for a year due to the Corona virus: “We must continue singing in all circumstances until we send a message of hope to the world, as music is the language of the people, crossing all borders and reaching the farthest corners of the world.”

The singer, musician, writer and composer continues: “If the epidemic continues for a longer period, I will open my window one day and sing from it to the people, just as Europeans used to sing from their balconies and then clap for themselves, because life must go on,” despite the pandemic that has caused the death of more than 2.6 million people around the world.

And after he was forced to cancel concerts that were scheduled for 2020 in Britain, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, Al-Madfei appeared in May to his fans with a party without an audience from the Roman amphitheater in downtown Amman.

Al-Madfei, who spends his spare time drawing, writing poetry and singing, says: “We live in unnatural but necessary conditions. It was a difficult year during which we lost contact with the world, and we no longer went out and communicated with people, and we did not attend parties, everything has stopped.”

"Let's open the box."

Al Madfei, who learned to play the guitar at the age of 12, says he grew up “in a house who loves music.

Everyone in it was singing, men, women and children. ”

“At that time, in the 1950s, art was flourishing in Iraq,” adds the artist, who still attracts an entire generation of people interested in Iraqi music.

In Baghdad alone, there were 85 Iraqi female singers singing in cabarets that were visited by senior people.

In the sixties, Ilham formed the band "The Twisters", one of the first music groups of Western songs in Iraq, and when his family sent him to London to study architecture like his siblings, his love and fondness for Western songs increased, especially the songs of the British "Beatles" band.

When Al-Madfa'i returned to Baghdad in 1967, he decided to form a new band called "13 and Text", in which he used electric guitars, drums, bass and piano to revive many of the songs of the Iraqi heritage with a joyful western distribution, which caused a shock to the defenders of classical Arabic music who demanded that it be stopped.

But he continued and presented the most beautiful heritage songs, including: “Jaljal Ali Al Zaman”, “Mali Busy Market”, “Fawq Al Nakhl”, “Zari` Al Bazrankoush” and “Khattar”, whose album achieved the most sales in the Middle East for three consecutive years, and won the title The platinum album from the British company "EMI".

He says, "People were accustomed to oriental musical instruments and oriental clothes. As for me, I changed all this and created a new style. I was defending the modern song that we can display everywhere in the world."

He adds: «There were very beautiful, ancient Iraqi songs, but they are unknown, so I wondered why this treasure was placed in a sealed box?

Let's open this box.

I said: Let us take these songs out for the world to hear. These songs do not belong to anyone, but are the heritage of us all.

He continues, saying: "All I did was renew the old Iraqi song, so that it would survive and resist time, just as we renovate an old building in order to survive and resist the effects of time."

Al-Madfai’s longing for his country, Iraq, which he left twice, the first in 1979 and the second in 1994, to settle in Jordan, and considers that “it is not easy for a person to live far from his country, because the artist’s primary connection is in his country, the source of dirt and art, but we all left our country for some reason.”

Although he sang in the most famous halls of the world, such as "Royal Albert Hall" and "Queen Elizabeth Hall" in London, "Trianon" theater in Paris, and opera houses in many countries of the world, Al-Madfei dreams of performing one day in "Al-Zahawi Cafe", the oldest café in Baghdad. It was founded in 1917 and is located at the beginning of Al-Mutanabi Street in central Baghdad, and the most prominent Iraqi maqam singer, Muhammad Al-Qubanji and Youssef Omar, sang there.

He says, "People who come to this street, which does not exceed 200 meters in length, including writers, intellectuals, musicians and artists of all sects and religions, breathe the culture that we have been searching for throughout our lives."

• In the fifties of the twentieth century, art was flourishing, and there were 85 female singers in Baghdad alone.

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