DESCRIPTION:
Music for Peace in the Middle East spotlights Jewish, Muslim, and Christian musicians who fostered peaceful coexistence through collaborative music-making. Here we present Salah al-Kuwaiti, the Jewish composer and violinist whose music exemplified a truly modern Iraqi style. With his brother Da‘ud al-Kuwaiti, lyricist, ‘udist, and singer, the al-Kuwaitis were acclaimed for their individual style influenced by Egyptian, Turkish, Persian, and Arabian Gulf music.

Here we present an extended taqsim by Salah al-Kuwaiti, recorded by the Israel Broadcasting Authority in 1969.

Prior to the al-Kuwaitis' immigration to Israel, their six member ensemble, including Yusuf Za‘arur (qanun), Salah Taqu (cello), Ya‘aqub Murad (nay), and Husayn ‘Abd Allah (percussion), was in great demand. So were the brothers’ services as composers, particularly for female singers, among them Salimah Murad al-Basha and her sister Regina, Zakiyah George, and Sultanah Yusuf. It’s estimated that the al-Kuwaiti brothers composed approximately 1,000 songs before immigrating to Israel in the early 1950s. Al-Kuwaiti also wrote music for the first Iraqi film.

Read about the al-Kuwaitis in "The Urban Repertoire of Jewish Professional Musicians in Iraq and Israel: Instrumental Improvisation and Culture Change,” a 1988 Ph.D. dissertation by Esther Warkov pp.50-56, 91-94, 108-110; search the document for additional information: http://bit.ly/1niES7r

Read the account of al-Kuwaiti’s life and contribution by his son, Schlomo al-Kuwaiti. http://bit.ly/2r1YORH

Visit Salah al-Kuwaiti’s Facebook page http://bit.ly/2qszvFo for links to other compositions posted on YouTube.