1910-1995
He was one of the pioncer musicinns in Iraq. He was born in Mosul. He was influenced by his father who was chanting at churches, He learned to play the trumpet at Shimon Safa School in Mosul. In 1925 he entered Primary Tenchers College in Baghdad and studied chanting. In 1928 he was appointed a teacher in the schools of Baghdad, and later a general supervisor of the school activity, and started composing anthems. In 1936 he entered the Institute of Fine Arts and studied the pinno. He composed his first tune for the Kurdish singer Ali Mardan in 1949. In 1958 he worked as a teacher at the Institute of Fine Arts, and then he was transferred to the Ministry of Education. In 1964 he founded a music institute for children. In 1969 he retired, but he continued his musical work and became a supervisor of the band of children music on the radio. He worked as an instructor at the radio training center where dozens of Iraqi musicians graduated at his hands. He composed tunes for most Iraqi male and female singers. His works include: “Modern Patriotie Anthems’ (Baghdad 1941), “Songs of the Modern Republie”bf Iraq” (Baghdad 1959). ‘Modern Nationalistic Anthems’ (Cairo 1948), and ‘House of Music for Juveniles’ (Baghdad 1962).
