Born in Baghdad, Ahmed Mukhtar has been playing the oud and Arabic percussion since 1979. In 1983, he began studying both the oud and percussion at the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad. A few years later, in 1990, he attended the High Institute of Music in Damascus where he continued his studies of the oud and Western percussion. In 1999, Mukhtar earned an MA from the London College of Music, and in 2003, he received an MA in Performance with a focus on Middle-Eastern and Arabic music from SOAS (the School of Oriental and African Studies), London. In this latest album, Mukhtar performs ancient, new, and improvised pieces from the rich jewel of the Middle East- Iraq. Accompanied on flamenco guitar, string quartet and percussion, Mukhtar shows us the beauty of Iraqi musical heritage.
