Kazim Al-Saher: Part Two

A month before the first missiles hit Baghdad in March, a remarkable thing happened - Kazim Al-Saher, one of the biggest names in Iraqi music, toured the United States. The fact that he was allowed in the country was perhaps surprise enough, given the attitude of the Bush administration and in Immigration and Naturalisation Service (al-Saher is officially a Canadian citizen). What was truly astonishing was the amount of media coverage he received; all the networks, from CNN to CBS, besieged him. There were appearances on Good Morning America and MSNBC shows. The venerable New York Times wrote no less than two features on him. And his shows, of course, were sell-outs. It was unprecedented in world music.

But the war in Iraq has politicized the world. There were huge demonstrations against the war all over the globe (not least in the U.S.). So a visit at a sensitive time from someone whose ties are "over there" (although al-Saher hasn't lived in Iraq for several years) was almost bound to create interest. The tour itself had actually been arranged before Dubya began to countdown to conflict, and while artists like Youssou N'Dour decided to stay out of the U.S., al-Saher knew that this would be an ideal time "to let audiences in America see another face of the Iraqi people. They were and are only seeing the war on the media and politics. I wanted them to see the cultural and educated side of the Iraqi people through music. There are great Iraqi poets, philosophers, architects, painters, composers and educators that are living in Iraq and or part of its ancestry. I wanted to bring the message that we need and must not forgot about the thousands of innocent children and try to protect them and insure that they have the opportunities to grow and live in peace. The children are our future poets, educators' composers and the next generation of great Iraqi artists. Iraq was the crossroads of civilization, and its place in history should be reflected not just for the conflicts of today but also for its immense contribution to the arts and culture of today's civilization."

"I wanted to bring the message that we need and must not forgot about the thousands of innocent children and try to protect them and insure that they have the opportunities to grow and live in peace. The children are our future poets, educators' composers and the next generation of great Iraqi artists."

Al-Saher's has contributed a fair amount to modern Iraqi music himself. He's generally regarded as a star of classy Middle Eastern pop, but he's also a trained musician with a background in classical music that he aired in 1989 with the opus La Ya Sadiki (recently reissued as part of the EMI Arabian Masters series). Yet he's also mainstream enough to have had the song Ana Wa Laila voted in at number six in a poll of the world's most popular songs held by the BBC World Service, and to have recorded a duet with Sarah Brightman.

Kazim al-Saher was born in 1961 in Nainawa, northern Iraq, one of 10 children of a palace worker. Music arrived through the radio, and al-Saher was entranced, especially by the compositions of the legendary Egyptian composer Mohamed Abdel Wahab. He was so smitten that when he was 10 he sold his bicycle to buy an old guitar, and two years later started writing his own songs. During his teens he switched to oud ("I play oud and guitar. I use the oud to compose my music. I first started on the guitar and later in my studies of classical Arabic music the oud."), and at the age of 21 he was admitted to the Baghdad Music Academy.

His aim was a career in music, but getting a foot in the door wasn't easy. All the producers he approached turned him away, because of his insistence on recording his own - rather than their - material. The only way in was through the back door, and that was what he used. In 1987, with the collusion of a TV producer friend, al-Saher slipped his song "Ladghat El Hayya" (The Snake Bite) onto Iraqi national television. The uproar was immediate, since the song was an allegory to the recently concluded Iran-Iraq war. He was given an ultimatum: change the lyrics or have the song banned. He refused to alter a word, but blacklisting the piece only made it more popular, and soon he was given concerts all over the Gulf, and recording for a Kuwaiti label. Another hit ("Obart Al Shat") the following year cemented his status, but led to plenty of criticism from his professors at the Academy that he'd forsaken the heights of classical music for base sha'bi pop. Just to prove them wrong, in 1989 al-Saher composed the opus La Ya Sadiki, where he used maqams, or scales, that had been unheard in Iraqi music for decades.

"I believe that the classical side of my compositions is the foundation for my music," he explained, "and the contemporary side allows for new innovations as well as for me to reach varies audiences especially the younger generation. But I find it important to first write my song in a classical style giving it the depth of structure of the traditional Arabic music, and then carefully weaving the contemporary sounds into the music. It allows for multiple interpretations I especially see this through the lyrics and the diverse rhythms I use in my compositions. Some may listen to the words of my songs and feel a romantic love others find another interpretation to the lyrics."

He'd proved himself to be an all-rounder, and went truly international, undertaking his first U.S. tour. Al-Saher finally left Iraq in 1993, moving first to Lebanon, then settling in Cairo. But America had proved to be friendly territory, even though none of his albums was officially released there (that wouldn't happen until 2000, with The Impossible Love, still his only U.S. record); in 1998 he performed his composition "Tathakkar" for the U.S. Congress and the United Nations, winning a UNICEF award.

But the timing of this 2003 tour made everything problematic. Whipped up by the President, at least half of America believed Iraq to be the home of all manner of rampant villainy. Still, al-Saher wasn't worried, because he "believed in my audiences and the American audiences. Music has always had the power to bring people together." And he was proven right. In between all the media hype were several concerts where he was accompanied by a crack band of American-based Middle Eastern musicians, and all the shows were very warmly received.

"It was really incredible to see so many different faces, both old and new, in the audiences and how much they appreciated the music," he noted. "I enjoyed seeing old and new audiences getting moved by the music. The diverse and well-researched questions about my music and the meaning of the lyrics really showed me that they were interested in what I had to say musically and where the music came from. I was so happy to see that they had taken the time to listen, and to be interested in my music."

And that audience was surprisingly familiar with his music, which "seems to have reached audiences through the method of imports and Internet. I was amazed to see how many people were asking me about my older albums, Like "Ana Wa Laila," and "Fi Madras Al Hob." I hope in the future to have a much larger distribution through the mainstream. It was so heartwarming to see the reaction from audiences at a record retailer in Chicago. They had so many people there waiting to have CDs signed and they even ran out of CDs. So I hope with future albums that the record companies and retailers will have it available through the mainstream outlets. In the past so much of my music was sold through non-traditional retailers. Also my next album will feature songs in English as well as Arabic. So I think this may make it even more accessible to audiences the United States."

But the simple fact is that Kazim al-Saher has become a star of global proportions; there's no other way to explain the way his song "Ana Wa Laila" was voted sixth among the 10 most popular tunes in the world on the BBC World Service. His name might have cruised under the radar in some countries, but elsewhere he's a phenomenon. But even he was astonished by the song's lasting success.

"I've been getting a lot of very strange reactions. Very violent, very hateful, people are saying, 'Get out of the country, you don't deserve to be an American.'

" "Ana Wa Laila" is a song I wrote years ago that seems to have become one of my timeless compositions. It also reminds me that keeping to my roots and classical foundation in my compositions is key to a lasting forever-timeless nature of song. But I am happy that it has touched so many people and that they it keeps on being played on the radio throughout the world."

For all the acceptance and press surrounding his U.S. tour, it simply wouldn't have been timely if politics hadn't raised its ugly head. While in the country, al-Saher teamed with retro-rocker Lenny Kravitz to record a pro-peace song.

"Lenny Kravitz was working on a song to reach out to people's consciousness asking for peace everywhere, and wanted to have an Arabic singer participate, and I received the phone call while I was on tour in the US asking if I would be willing to participate. I really enjoyed working with Lenny on the song "We Want Peace." I had suggested that he add some real authentic Arabic rhythm and melody to this song. At my suggestion he invited a great composer/arranger and oudist Simon Shaheen to give the composition some authentic Arabic rhythm and melody."

The song appeared as a free download on the Rock the Vote website. However, the version available was one which didn't include an additional Arabic verse, sung and written by al-Saher, with the translated lyrics "Nothing is more beautiful in these times than love/ Let's clear our differences and put our trust in God/Oh world how many children have to be orphaned by war/ Those who love peace God protects them /We want peace/We want peace/ Now…." Even so, it seemed to provoke a reaction similar to that of the Dixie Chicks criticizing Bush. Kravitz was quoted on Yahoo Australia as saying, "I've been getting a lot of very strange reactions. Very violent, very hateful, people are saying, 'Get out of the country, you don't deserve to be an American.' A lot of people have a problem with the fact that I have an Iraqi on the track. But wait a minute, isn't this thing called Operation Iraqi Freedom? We're over there to liberate these people but yet I can't associate with one. People are still seeing this as an anti-war song. I think right now, people are worried about their ratings and their business and people don't wanna rock that." Notably, the version with the additional Arabic verse has yet to appear.

It's not the only collaboration the Iraqi has undertaken recently. His next disc will contain a duet with none other than Sarah Brightman on the presciently-titled, "The War Is Over Now." It came about, he noted, when "my record company contacted me and said she really would like to do a song with me as a duet. And that she had listened to many voices but felt that we could have a really special musical connection vocally though this song. The song is called "The War Is Over Now." It is more about a soul searching war within one self. I sing both in English and Arabic throughout this duet. We just finished filming the video, which should be out next month in Morocco."

And Morocco is where al-Saher himself is currently, recovering from a bout of stomach flu. But the remainder of his year is full booked: "I am currently working on my new album and will be touring this summer/fall in the Middle East and Europe. I also plan to return to North America for the second part of my tour in October '03."

That new album, tentatively due around the end of this year or early next, is aimed at being a breakthrough. In addition to the Brightman duet, al-Saher will include two tracks in English, with production on some of the material being handled by K.C. Porter, the man behind the board for Santana's big comeback. And he'll finally release "Kuthre Hadeeth," the love song to Baghdad that he wrote several years ago, and which has long been a concert staple (never more so than on this American jaunt), but which he's never recorded.

If it succeeds in establishing him as a major artist in the West, he'll be the first Arabic singer to have achieved that, a major feat for any time (even the majestic Um Kulthum couldn't manage it), but most especially now.

When he left Iraq 10 years ago, he left family there. Since the war started, according to his American manager, Dawn Elder, his mood and attitude has changed on a daily basis. That's understandable; anyone would be the same. Now the war is done, and a very fragile peace exists. And al-Saher has gone incommunicado. Even Elder can't raise him in Morocco.

The Middle East, and Iraq is particular, is in flux. The coalition won the military war, at a price, but the civilian peace could well be a different matter. And inevitably al-Saher's mind is there - it's his homeland, after all. Whether he'll end up returning there to live is, of course, another matter. But for the moment, al-Saher's future is, as someone once sang, wide open.