Farida and the Iraqi Maqam Ensemble

Farida is one of the few female Maqam singers in the World; she learnt from the Oud master Munir Bashir and has made a name for herself in this great tradition. She was born in Karbala, an Islamic Shiite town in southern Iraq, where a tradition of female singers and singing has been allowed to flourish.

The ensemble was formed in 1989 with the objective of reviving the Iraqi Maqam and the Iraqi musical heritage and presenting it to the outside world, a goal which has been achieved with appearances in UAE, Lebanon, Syria, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, The Netherlands, Australia, France, Portugal, Germany, America, Italy, Sweden and Austria.

Her only UK appearance was in Edinburgh in May 2009 but now that her and the group are settled in the Netherlands we expect them to visit the UK more frequently.