Rahim AlHaj Trio: Issa Malluf, Rahim AlHaj, Sourena Sefati.

Eighteen years ago, Iraqi oud virtuoso/composer Rahim AlHaj, his life threatened by the Saddam regime, which had already imprisoned and tortured him twice, emigrated to the United States with his oud, a few books and paintings, and $60. (A heavy smoker at the time, he claims, with a laugh, to have smoked the $60.) His trouble with the regime had its seeds in the early days of the Iran-Iraq War, when he was just 13 years old. He submitted a composition in Maqam Dasht (an Iraqi scale) to the quadrennial youth competition and won. Because Maqam Dasht is closely related to the Iranian Maqam Āvāz-eDašti, the composition was heard by some as an antiwar statement, a gesture of peace toward Iran. This Saturday, at the Outpost, AlHaj celebrates the release of his latest recording, One Sky* (Smithsonian Folkways), which includes that same composition, enriched by AlHaj’s mature mastery of his instrument. He will be joined by his trio mates on the album: Iranian santur virtuoso Sourena Sefati, and Palestinian-American percussionist Issa Malluf.

One Sky is the latest initiative in AlHaj’s ongoing mission to fight injustice and create beauty. The title itself reflects his determination to bring people from across the political and economic spectra together. “We don’t have American sky. We don’t have African sky. Not Asian sky. No, no, no, we have one sky,” he says. “It doesn’t matter where you come from. You will be under one sky.”

In today’s world, riven with conflict, AlHaj says, it is artists’ responsibility to address the problems with the tools at their disposal. “What I do have? I have music. I have oud. I have imagination,” he says. “I’m a human being. Can we mix that together to create beauty and to tell the ugliness of the other side of conflict?”

One Sky does just that. Its nine original compositions, eight from AlHaj and one from Sefati, chronicle the interior journey of AlHaj and millions like him, who, uprooted and damaged by conflict, try to move toward peace and dignity. The album begins with “Dialogue,” a tune dedicated to honor Nazar al-Jabar, a violin virtuoso and childhood friend of AlHaj, who, in desperation, burned his violin in 1994 during the occupation of Iraq to warm his infant son. The next song, “Wandering,” with its stately sadness and its fitful oud solo, reflects the search of the rootless and displaced for peace, comfort.

The album takes an upbeat turn with “Time to Have Fun” and “Fly Away,” which counsel a turning away from grief. The ceremonial “A Gift from a Sufi Soul” looks inward for a spiritual mooring. “Dasht” issues a plea for peace and a warning while “Ayoub,” the Iraqi name for Job, preaches endurance over a Sufi rhythm meant to align the individual with the Divine. Sefati’s santur solo on his composition “River” invites nature’s soothing influence, and the album comes to an end with “Dancing Planet,” which commemorates the joy of AlHaj’s wedding day.

One Sky begs us to consider the cost of conflict and the profit to be found in peace. Playing on a traditional oud made in Turkey, a birthday gift from his wife, AlHaj takes advantage of that instrument’s deeply resonant tone to plumb the human cost of the Iran-Iraq War and to promulgate a sonorous, moving manifesto for peace.

“I wanted in this project to put a human face on [this],” he says, referring to the collaboration of an Iraqi and an Iranian, whose countries were sworn enemies in their lifetimes. “This Iranian, he is a human being, and this Iraqi is a human being. . . . Music brings us together. Peace is possible. Love is possible.”

Rahim AlHaj Trio
Saturday, April 14, at 7:30 p.m.
Weil Hall at the Outpost Performance Space
210 Yale SE, Albuquerque
Tickets: $25 (member/student); $30 (general)
For tickets or more information, click here, or call 505-268-0044.

© 2018 Mel Minter

*Click on this link to go to the Amazon page where you can purchase One Sky. If you click through and make the purchase there, Musically Speaking will receive a small percentage of the sale. Thank you for your support.