A free noontime concert of Middle Eastern music is scheduled outdoors at UNM Friday, July 21. Composer and virtuoso musician Rahim AlHaj will give a solo performance in this second in a series of UNM Summer Staff Appreciation Concerts at University Honors plaza, near the SUB and Johnson Center. Grilled food and refreshments will be for sale beginning at 11:30 a.m.
AlHaj was born in Baghdad, Iraq and began playing the oud (the grandfather of all stringed instruments) at age nine. In 1991, after the first Gulf War, AlHaj was forced to leave Iraq due to his political activism against the Saddam Hussein regime and began his life in Jordan and Syria. He moved to the United States in 2000 as a political refugee and has since resided in Albuquerque. He is an adjunct faculty member in the UNM Department of Music.
AlHaj has performed in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt, France, and the United States. A performance on June 18 at the Kennedy Center was for the release of When the Soul is Settled: Music of Iraq, Rahim AlHaj, oud, with Souhail Kaspar, percussion, for Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. In 2005, he released Friendship: Oud/String Quartet Ensemble, recorded in Albuquerque.
AlHaj’s CDs have become best sellers and are frequently featured on national radio shows and movies, including Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now and NPR’s Studio 360.
Summer concerts are presented by the UNM Staff Council and the Work + Life Committee and are open to the public. The Office for Institutional Advancement and the Student Activities Center provide support and funding.
Media Contact: Greg Johnston, (505) 277-1816; e-mail: gregj@unm.edu