Rahim AlHaj (Arabic: رحيم الحاج, born c. 1968) is an Iraqi American oud musician and composer. AlHaj was born in Baghdad, Iraq and began playing the oud (an Arabic lute) at age nine. Early on, it was evident that he had a remarkable talent for playing the oud.

As received from his teachers and transformed by his considerable musical gifts and life experience, Rahim Alhaj carries on a significant strand of Iraqi musical tradition toward future generations—in his own way, in his own time. Alhaj studied music in Baghdad with Munir Bashir and other great teacher-performers.

Rahim AlHaj, virtuoso oud musician and composer, was born in Baghdad, Iraq and began playing the oud (the grandfather of all stringed instruments) at age nine.

Oud soloist and composer Rahim Alhaj has carried his (roughly) five-thousand-year-old music tradition more than seven thousand miles, from his birthplace in Baghdad to his current home in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Jun 11, 2015 · Hailed as "one of the top oud players in the world" by the San Francisco Chronicle, Rahim AlHaj is a performer and composer who combines a traditional Iraqi musical foundation with contemporary styling and influences. AlHaj was born in Baghdad, Iraq, and began playing the oud—a stringed instrument dating back at least 5,000 years—at age nine.

May 10, 2017 · For Letters from Iraq, AlHaj transposes the stories and sentiments within actual letters written by Iraqis into virtuosic instrumentals. Each composition is inspired by a specific letter, its author referenced in the title.

Nov 7, 2019 · Rahim AlHaj’s music can seem bleak at first. His 2017 album, Letters From Iraq, is a mournful meditation on the violence wrought by the U.S. military invasion of his home country.

Rahim AlHaj, one of the world’s best oud players, is a performer and composer whose wide-ranging music serves as a bridge between cultures. His instrument, a big-bodied, short-necked lute, dates back at least 5,000 years and is popular …

Jul 9, 2019 · Iraqi-American musician Rahim AlHaj plays his oud, a string instrument commonly used in the Middle East and North Africa, during a rehearsal before a performance on May 5 at the Logan Center...

Feb 5, 2008 · The Iraqi musician Rahim Alhaj, a graduate of the Baghdad Conservatory of Fine Arts, began to study the oud, one of his culture’s traditional musical tools, at nine years-old.