Visions of Iraq

Ahmed Mukhtar is a London-based Iraqi musician, renowned for his masterful playing of the oud. On Visions of Iraq, Mukhtar performs ancient, new and improvised pieces, with varied instrumental accompaniment from Iraq and beyond. He is clearly a supremely talented master of his instrument. When given space to showcase his skills – on tracks such as ‘Iraqi Bayat’, where he plays an improvisation (or taqsim) in one of the main maqamaat (Arabic modes) – the effect is mesmerising.

Musical fusion often involves navigating a treacherously fine line between the enhancement and diminution of traditions. I can't help feeling that some of Mukhtar's attempts at fusion, in this case, end up diluting rather than illuminating the beauty of the oud. Tracks such as ‘Summertime Dream’, which features a range of classical string instruments and ‘Romance’, with a full string quartet and flamenco guitar, feel more like the soundtrack to a romantic film than anything else. Perhaps it's a love story set between London and Baghdad, where Mukhtar was born.