Kazem Al Saher profile:
Kazem Al Saher born September 12, 1957 in Mosul, Iraq), is an Iraqi singer, composer, and poet. He has been dubbed as the "Emperor of Arab Music", "Elvis of the Middle East", "Robbie Williams of the Middle East", "Iraq’s Diplomatic Ambassador to the world", "Iraq’s Ambassador for Peace" and is hailed as a true legend of Arabic Music.

Kazem has established himself as one of the most successful singers in the history of the Arab World, having sold more than 500,000 albums since the start of his career. Ranging from big romantic ballads to more political work, from pop to Arab classical music.

Kazem Al Saher Biography

Saher was born in Mosul, 1957 to a mother from Najaf and a father from Samarra. His father lived in Baghdad, but was a samarra native from the tribe of albu daraj. He grew up and spent a large part of his life in Alhurrya city in Baghdad. He is the son of a palace worker and has nine siblings.

Apart from his mother, Saher's family were never supportive of his direction in becoming a musician. They had no faith in him that he would become successful, and instead wanted him to become a doctor or a lawyer. Saher's brother once took him to a local cafeteria, full of aspiring musicians who had

no work and warned him that Kazem will end up the same. He said that the only way to achieve success is if you respect your music and respect yourself. Kazem Al Saher has two sons, Wesam and Omar.

Kazem Al Saher Early life

His interest in music grew as he listened to songs via the radio that offered him the chance to become familiar with the works of composers such as Mohammed Abdel Wahab. When he was ten, he began writing songs. After selling his bicycle, Saher purchased a guitar at the age of twelve, and began learning the arts of the guitar for about three months before writing a classical song to accompany his newfound talent. It was his first instrument. He later switched to the oud, a much more common (and complex) instrument, and was accepted into the Baghdad Music Academy at the age of twenty-one. Although keen to break through in the music business with his songs and voice, he found himself rebuffed by all the producers he approached, who would only let him sing their own material. Instead, he used the back door to gain entry to the industry!

Kazem Al Saher Professional career


One of his first videos was made in collaboration with one of his friends that happened to be a television director. The song in question was "Ladghat El Hayya" (The Snake Bite), which was broadcast on Iraqi television in 1987, one year before the end of the Iraq-Iran war. The song was the source of a major controversy due to particular sensitivities that were common during that era. Officials in the Iraqi television asked him to either change the lyrics or have it banned. His refusal to change the lyrics and it's consequent ban only helped to increase the popularity of the song. He began giving concerts all over the Persian Gulf and recording his music with Kuwaiti labels.

A year later, he had a hit with "Obart Al Shat" (I crossed the river). Some of his professors at the Academy denounced it as sha'bi (pop) music, anathema to those who taught classical music. But protesting was pointless. El-Saher had managed to circumvent the system and had become a star on his own terms—he even undertook his first U.S. tour in 1989. Having conquered pop, El-Saher turned around and established himself in the Arabic classical world with "La Ya Sadiki" (No, My Friend), a magnum opus that lasted almost an hour and found him using maqams (scales) that hadn't been used in Iraqi music in several decades, revitalizing a tradition.
 

In 1991 and due to the Persian Gulf War, Kazem transferred his base of operations to Jordan where he lived with his family for few years. He always considers living in Jordan as an important period of his life and career success later on. Kazem performed more than once some of his most successful concerts which was held in Jerash. After that he moved to Lebanon, where he met and formed a songwriting partnership with noted Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani in 1996, who wrote lyrics to his music, before settling permanently in Cairo. Qabbani, wrote the lyrics to more than 30 of Kazem’s songs. In addition to Qabbani’s poems, Kazem sang both political and romantic songs for Iraq and Baghdad, highlighting the feelings of the citizens of Iraq as well as their tragedies.

El-Saher continued to release albums and tour, having become the biggest name in Middle Eastern music, one whose ballads grew bigger and more romantic, but who would write classically influenced works, even when they might hurt his popularity.

By 1998, he had ten albums under his belt and was lauded as an artist, not just a pop star. That prestige brought him wider fame and a growing international reputation that won him a UNICEF award for his song "Tathakkar", which he performed in the U.S. for Congress and the United Nations -- one of the first real post-Gulf War cultural exchanges. The following year, he recorded a tribute to the Pope with the Italian Symphony Orchestra. many of his compositions are being taught in many universities of United States of America, especially his very famous song "Baghdad" is still taught other than America.

 See Also:

• www.kademalsahir.com/vb

• www.kazemelsaher.net

• en.wikipedia.org

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