Iraq

Artists from Iraq, home of the maqam al-Iraqi tradition and of some of the Arab world’s most recognisable voices.

The Iraqi maqam is a distinct classical system, more formally demanding than the word “maqam” implies elsewhere: a set repertoire, a specific chalghi ensemble, and a reciter judged on how faithfully and how inventively he moves through it. Baghdad sustained it for centuries.

Running alongside it is a completely different popular tradition, the fast hand-clapping choubi of the south and the rural repertoire that fed it, plus a twentieth-century song tradition that produced singers known in every Arab country.

Decades of war and sanctions scattered Iraqi musicians widely, and a great deal of the recent output has been made in Amman, the Gulf and Europe rather than at home. They are listed here by origin regardless of where they are based now.