Video: Rahim AlHaj Trio: Middle Eastern Music from New Mexico
A performance of traditional Arab music courtesy of the Library of Congress and the Rahim AlHaj Trio.
Enjoy this performance of traditional Arab music courtesy of the Library of Congress and the Rahim AlHaj Trio. Based in New Mexico, the trio’s members are all widely respected performers and composers with diverse heritages from Iraq, Iran, and a Palestinian-American family. Together, they perform traditional Arab and Persian music. Biographical information for each band member is quoted below from the Library of Congress. Additionally, you can learn more about the trio here.
Speaker Biography: Rahim AlHaj was born in Baghdad, Iraq and began playing the oud (Arabic lute) at age nine. He moved to the US in 2000 as a political refugee and has resided in Albuquerque, New Mexico, ever since. Rahim has performed around the globe and is considered one of the finest oud players in the world. His compositions evoke the experience of exile from his homeland and of new beginnings in his adopted country. In 2015 Rahim was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship.
Speaker Biography: Sourena Sefati was born in Ramsar, Iran, and started playing santour (hammered dulcimer) at age 11. He won the award for best composer of Iranian music at Art University in 2006 and served as instructor at Art University and Elmi-Karbordi University in Tehran from 2008 to 2014. Sourena moved to the United States in 2014, and teaches Iranian music in Albuquerque.
Speaker Biography: Issa Malluf is a Palestinian-American native of New Mexico. Originally self-taught, Issa has become a highly skilled and internationally recognized specialist in Middle Eastern, Arabic, and North African percussion.
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