Naseer Shamma

Naseer Shamma (نصير شمه) is an Iraqi musician and oud player.

He was born in 1963 in Kut, a city on the Tigris River. He is born to a Feyli Kurdish father and a Khazraji Arab mother. He began studying the oud at the age of 12 in Baghdad, following in the footsteps of Jamil and Munir Bashir. He received his diploma from the Baghdad Academy of Music in 1987. He began to teach oud after three years at the academy, as well as continuing his own studies. Shamma has composed music for films, plays and television and created the Arabic Oud House.

Among other recognitions, Shamma has been distinguished as UNESCO Artist for Peace and by the International Red Crescent and Red Cross Societies as goodwill ambassador.

In the 1980s, Shamma was accused by the Iraqi government of criticising Saddam Hussein. He was asked to visit the Iraqi embassy to Amman, where he was kidnapped and transported against his will to Iraq where he was imprisoned. He was interrogated for weeks, and was sentenced to death without a court hearing. He was ultimately released without any meaningful process.

Discography

 * Le Luth de Bagdad (1994, Institut du Monde Arabe) (reissued as Le Luth de Bagdad - Histoire d’amour orientale)
 * Ishraq (1996, Musicaimmagine)
 * The Moon Fades (1999, Incognito)
 * If Found (2004, Diwan)
 * Maqamat Ziryáb (2005, Pneuma)
 * Hilal (Crescent) (2006, Pneuma)
 * Ard Al-Sawad (The Black Land or Land of Darkness) (2006, Diwan)
 * Viaje De Las Almas (Travelling Souls) (2011, Pneuma)

Cassettes

 * Before I Get Crucified (1997)
 * The Night of Baghdad (1997)
 * Eastern Love Story (1997)
 * Declaring My Love Silently (1997)
 * For the Children of Iraq (1997)
 *  The Siege of Baghdad (2000)

Other

 * Oud Naseer Shamma (2000, Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation)
 * The Fire This Time (2002, Hidden Art)
 * Silk (2008, Abu Dhabi Festival)