A few days ago, the Iraqi art scene bid farewell to one of the brightest artists who became famous at the beginning of the seventies with songs that are still present in the memory of the people, although he left singing for more than 30 years and kept away from the spotlight and fame, but his songs remained firm and present in the minds of generations.

On the morning of Wednesday, the second of December 2020, the artist Kamal Muhammad bade farewell to his city of Nasiriyah calmly and quietly after being infected with the Corona virus, and he lay in the health isolation center for several days and then died after that, as his city, its artists and intellectuals mourned him and remembered his songs that are still part of Memory of Iraqi Singing.

Kamal Muhammad (left) with the head of the Artists Syndicate in Dhi Qar Ali Abd Eid (social networking sites)

Bus CV

Despite his short artistic career, Kamal Muhammad managed to be one of the most prominent artists, especially in Dhi Qar, where he became famous with the broadcast of his first song in the early seventies, which is the same time period in which the artist Hussein Nehme appeared and quickly became famous, but Kamal Muhammad preferred to stay Away and attention to aspects other than singing.

Muhammad was born in Nasiriyah in 1942, and moved to study at the Teachers Institute in Baquba, Diyala Governorate, in 1965, and graduated there to work in the educational field for 30 years.

During his career, he recorded 3 albums in 1975, and then performed concerts in the Gulf, Syria, Egypt and several European countries.

The writer-historian Abdul Halim Al-Hussaini says to Al-Jazeera Net that the artist Kamal Muhammad began his journey specifically in 1971 with the song "Moatbeen", which was composed by Abdul-Hussein Al-Samawi and the words of Abdul-Reda Al-Lami, and then his songs followed, such as the song "Red Bina", which is from the words of the poet Abbas Jejan and composed by Abd Heavenly Heaven.

After he left singing, he lived for a long time in Diyala Governorate, but he returned to Nasiriyah during the period of sectarian tension that Iraq witnessed in 2006 and 2007.

Artist Kamal Muhammad (right) did not sing to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and later retired (social networking sites)

Far from singing

The artist and director of the rural singing house in Dhi Qar, Majid Al-Sayyad, says to Al-Jazeera Net, "The artist Kamal Muhammad did not take his chance like other singers such as Hussein Nehme, Yas Khidr and others, although he is from the seventies generation and has a melodic and distinctive voice."

He added that Muhammad had a number of songs, and that he left Nasiriyah but returned to it later, and did not sing for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and later retired from art and became a brilliant Quran reader, and he silently left while admonishing the people of art, the Artists Syndicate and the Iraqi government.

According to what his friends tell, Muhammad had a passion for the Holy Quran, which encouraged him to memorize the entire Book of God, and he used to attend and open sessions, evenings, and cultural and artistic events with verses from the Qur’an.

different from the others

The writer, theater director, Yasser Al-Barrak believes that the most important characteristic of the late artist Kamal Muhammad's experience is his superior ability to select, which begins with choosing the lyrics of the songs and then the melody down to the method of performance. Therefore, we find that most of the songs he performed were completely different from the artists of his time.

Al-Barrak continues his speech to Al-Jazeera Net that Kamal Muhammad is one of the few singers who did not join the propaganda machine for the culture of power, neither before 2003 nor after, which explains his departure from the media spotlight, which affected his public fame, but his singing performance remains an excellent model for the distinctive seventieth artistic taste, According to Al-Barrak.

For his part, the artist Raad Omqis says to Al-Jazeera Net that the late artist Kamal Muhammad Ibn Nasiriyah, and the bird of the south, who sang in the sky of Diyala, and returned to it after a long longing, is a committed artist and has a melodious voice as he sang all the stages of the song, and was able to work with a large number of composers From inside and outside Nasiriyah.

Kamal Muhammad inflamed the hearts of his fans, lovers of his art and his fans with what he presented to the sober Iraqi song that he gave her a lot and gave it the juice of his soul and his heart after he loved her and was beating in loyalty to her, as the artist Ammar al-Gharabawi, who was close to the artist at the end of his life, says.

Artist Kamal Mohamed (left) with artist Ammar Al-Gharabawi (social networking sites)

reproach

Kamal Muhammad is considered one of the important voices in the artistic arena, but he kept wavering through the circumstances that he faced in his life, according to the head of the Artists Syndicate in Dhi Qar Governorate, Ali Abd Eid, as he appeared in the crowd of important voices that formed a great impact on Iraqi singing, but despite his little efforts He left songs that are considered masterpieces, as they formed a presence in the music scene with his southern voice full of sadness.

Kamal - as Eid speaks to Al Jazeera Net - is one of the forgotten singers, such as Qais Hader and Sabah Al Sahl, but Muhammad entered the minds of those who tasted these few musical masterpieces, and we tried as much as possible to save him after his infection with Corona through care and attention, but the Ministry of Culture did not respond to our calls.

He added, "The work of the Ministry of Culture is confused. We wanted it to be a ministry of intellectuals, not employees, to breathe through it, for it is the artistic and cultural incubator in Iraq, but the artist continued to suffer from poverty and lack of care and attention, and this matter closed the roads in the face of creativity and creators, and today creative people clearly fall, and we hope that the ministry will read again." This scene to promote the true reality of creativity. "

Nasiriyah was famous for many artists who have influenced the Iraqi music scene since the 1950s, where great artistic voices emerged, such as inside Hassan, Hudayri Abu Aziz, Nasser Hakim, Hussein Nehme and other voices that left their clear impact to this day.