NASEER SHAMMA & THE BEAUTIFUL STRINGS

NASEER SHAMMA & THE BEAUTIFUL STRINGS
FESTIVAL DU MONDE ARABE DE MONTREAL







Naseer Shamma:

Naseer Shamma is a renowned Arab Iraqi musician and oud player. He was born in 1963 in Kut, a city on the Tigris River. He is born to a Fayli Kurdish father and a Khazrajite Arab mother. He began studying the oud at the age of 12 in Baghdad, following in the footsteps of Jamil and Munir Bashir. When he was 11-years old, Shamma saw an oud for the first time, in the hands of a stylish music teacher. Although Shamma's father, a shop owner, was religiously conservative, he did not object to his son's artistic ambitions. In 1985, Shamma played his own compositions at his first concert, attended by several renowned Iraqi artists. At the time, he worked closely with the late Iraqi master Munir Bashir. But Shamma wanted to blaze his own path. Master Munir invented the technique of contemplation with oud, but Shamma wanted his music to carry content, an idea or image that is shocking. 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.



Ashraf Sharif Khan:

Ashraf Sharif Khan is the worthy son of the Sitar maestro Ustad Muhammad Sharif Khan Poonchwala of the famous Poonch Gharana who has been a contemporary musician of late Ustad Vilayat Khan and Pandit Ravi Shankar. Ashraf has been a child prodigy and has shown his immense talent in playing the sitar at the age of ten. He has been brought up in the Guru Sishya / Ustad to student tradition, inheriting a musical tradition handed down from father to son. Ashraf's music combines an astounding technical proficiency with perfection in musical expression. The melodic beauty of his style, accentuated by his dynamic rhythmic development and the virtuoso technique provide an unique style of his own. His music transcends regional boundaries, and is accessible to all. His first performance at the age of ten left a lusty impression on the music lovers of Pakistan. He has toured all over Pakistan extensively after that.



Romero Iglesias:

Born in Montellano in the area of Sevilla (Andalusia, Spain), Romero Iglesias learned the ways and skills of the guitarra flamenca with Master Manuel Morilla from Moron de la Frontera. He has given concerts all over the world, from Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, Venezuela, Mexico and Spain. Romero also has done several recordings for R.N.E. (Spanish National Radio) and WDR (German National Television).