The path to musical fame was not always clear to Mustafa Abbas Ali, a renowned conductor and music teacher in Iraq. Growing up in an artistic family, he developed a passion for drawing at a young age, leading to numerous exhibitions. However, a pivotal moment occurred during his middle school years when many of his paintings mysteriously vanished from an exhibition. Later, he discovered that some of these works were being displayed at the Ministry of Culture and Information, with one even gracing the office of the minister.
The living dead
The first twist of fate saw him enroll at the Institute of Musical Studies in Baghdad, where he simultaneously became both a student and a teacher. This unique position enabled him to hone his skills and eventually rise to prominence as a distinguished musician, leading numerous oriental ensembles and orchestras. A second, more harrowing, twist occurred when Mustafa was kidnapped by a militia group. He was held captive for an entire year, enduring severe torture that left him with broken bones and a dislocated shoulder. His family, believing him lost forever, even posted his obituary on the wall of their home in Baghdad in Al-Jidida, a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the capital.
A third twist came when a former acquaintance, visiting the prison to secure the release of his brother, was stunned to find Mustafa alive. His acquaintance was so surprised to see Mustafa, who looked as if he had emerged from the wild, that he fainted. Upon regaining consciousness, he exclaimed, “Aren’t you dead? Your obituary still hangs on the wall of your home.” Mustafa was eventually released after a ransom was paid.
The fourth and final twist of fate occurred in 2005, when the same militia group attacked his home once again, offering him a grim ultimatum: death for him and his family or exile. Mustafa chose to leave, seeking refuge in the Kurdistan Region. This area – a sanctuary for hundreds of thousands of Iraqis escaping the sectarian violence and brutal militias of central and southern Iraq – became his new home. He settled in Sulaymaniyah, where he began a new chapter in his life, almost entirely from scratch.
In Sulaymaniyah, Mustafa experienced yet another fateful encounter – this time on a public bus – with his former teacher from the Institute of Musical Studies, Majid Abdul Razzaq. Astounded by Mustafa’s story, Majid invited him to teach at the Institute of Fine Arts in Sulaymaniyah.
Today, Mustafa Abbas Ali is a celebrated musician, composer, and orchestra conductor. We met him at Mali Muzik, the House of Music, where he recounted his extraordinary journey in the world of music.
The Kurdish roots of Eastern musical terms
Maestro Mustafa Abbas Ali began his tenure at the Institute of Fine Arts in Sulaymaniyah in 2006, leading the Sulaymaniyah Orchestra from 2006 to 2016. During this time, he conducted both Eastern and Western compositions and led several other musical ensembles. “It was during this period that I delved deeply into Kurdish music, uncovering the Kurdish origins of many musical terms previously believed to be Turkish or Persian,” Mustafa said. “For instance, I noted that the term dad bi dad, used in maqam to describe an unjust ruler, is distinctly Kurdish.”
This revelation sparked his curiosity about the origins of maqam and oriental instruments, prompting him to learn the Kurdish language in its various dialects. He points out that the first step in this regard “was to study the origins of Arabian music and other musical sources.”
One of his key discoveries was the Kurdish origin of many terms thought to be Persian. The word basta, traditionally interpreted as “link” in Persian, actually holds a more accurate meaning in Kurdish, where it refers to a song or tune. Similarly, the maqam suznak, often translated as “burnt” in Persian, more accurately signifies “affection” in Kurdish. Additionally, while some Arabs claim that the word rast, referring to a maqam in music, is of Persian origin, meaning “straight,” and others suggest it derives from the Arabic word rasd, which was later simplified by the Turks to rast, the term carries a different meaning in Kurdish. In Kurdish, rast means “truth,” and some sources even trace it to the word ra, meaning “the beginning of the path.” In oriental music, the rast maqam is considered the foundational or starting point, making the Kurdish interpretation – ”truth” – more closely aligned with its musical significance.
The Kurdish Ziryab
Mustafa also posits that the illustrious musician Ziryab, often celebrated for his contributions to Andalusian music, was of Kurdish origin, born in Mosul. The name Ziryab, he explained, means “golden water” in Kurdish. Ziryab’s teacher, Ibrahim al-Mawsili, was also Kurdish and is credited with founding the first music institute in Islamic history, as documented in the book Collecting Jewels in Salt and Anecdotes by Abu Ishaq Ibrahim bin Ali al-Husri al-Qayrawani.
Mustafa further theorizes that “any instrument with three strings in the oriental tradition likely has Kurdish origins. The tanbur, the oldest stringed instrument in Mesopotamia, originally featured three strings. The Kurds later developed another instrument, the barbat, which had a larger soundbox and a skin-covered resonator. Ziryab, in a significant innovation, added a fourth string and replaced the skin with wood, thus creating the oud. When he introduced the oud to Andalusia, Europeans adapted it into the lute, an instrument that played a crucial role during the Baroque period. This eventually evolved into what we now recognize as the modern guitar.”
Zoroastrianism and the significance of three strings
Discussing the significance of the three strings in instruments such as the tanbur, Mustafa traced their origins to Zoroastrianism, a religion that revered music and espoused a triadic principle of good deeds, good words, and sound thoughts. He mentioned that the spike fiddle invented by the Kurds, initially had three strings before a fourth was added. Traditionally, the spike fiddle was crafted from walnut wood, and its Kurdish name, kewan, means “bow.” In ancient sources, the instrument was referred to as kewan ja, meaning “the instrument played with a bow.”
The distinctiveness of Kurdish music
Exploring the differences between Kurdish, Arab, and Western music, Mustafa highlighted that Eastern music typically includes quarter tones, in contrast to the half tones characteristic of Western music. Eastern music comprises seven main scales, each of which branches into over a hundred sub-scales, while Western music features only two main scales, further divided into three sub-scales, totaling five.
He emphasized that the uniqueness of Kurdish music lies in the quarter tones, or koma, of its sounds. Kurdish music is “remarkably diverse, reflecting the variety of Kurdish regions and dialects, each with its unique musical influence.” Pure Kurdish music is rare and is primarily employed in traditional dances. Kurdish singing, which includes forms such as Lauk, Hairan, Bayt, Siya Chamaneh or Siya Jamana, and Horeh, serves to narrate epic or emotional tales, thereby preserving Kurdish cultural heritage.
Mustafa also noted that Kurdish music is distinguished by its fast rhythms and complex meters, which differ significantly from other musical traditions. Some of these rhythms, such as georgina 5/8, and the 7/8, 6/8, 5/8, and 9/8 meters, have been adopted by Arab, Persian, and Turkish music but are of Kurdish origin.
New endeavors
Discussing his current projects, Mustafa revealed that he is working on recording Kurdish and Arabic compositions on the violin, accompanied by an orchestra. He also hinted at an ambitious project that seeks to blend the voice of a renowned, late Iraqi singer with Kurdish music – a vision he is determined to bring to fruition.
Currently, Mustafa is teaching music at the British International School of Sulaymaniyah. He also manages the Mali Muzik Center, the House of Music, located in the Al-Raya area in central Sulaymaniyah, where he teaches both Eastern and Western music. As the conductor of the Mali Muzik Orchestra, he has arranged several Kurdish musical works for orchestral performance. His compositional achievements include soundtracks for various Iraqi and Kurdish productions, such as the series Love and War, Zaman Haeran, Awlad Al-Hajj, and the Kurdish short film Tony Baba.
Basil Al-Khatib is an Iraqi Journalist
