Farid Allawerdi

Farid Allawerdi (1923–2007, , ), also transliterated as Farid Allahwerdi or Farid Allah Werdi, was an Iraqi composer, violist, musicologist, and teacher, and is considered one of Iraq’s most innovative and influential composers. As a composer, he was the first and only one to be internationally recognized and as a member of the International Society for Contemporary Music he appeared on their International Rostrum of Composers. His compositions have been performed in concerts and on radio and television, in the United States, France, Japan, Russia, Switzerland, Syria, Egypt and many far-Eastern countries. He won many awards and honours, including Prix D’Honneur de ‘L’Ecole Nationale de Musique de Saint-Brieuc, Paris, and a Diploma of Appreciation for his leading role in furthering Arab Music 1970–1995 by the Arab League, Arab Academy of Music. He explored contemporary musical idioms to find his own unique language where two completely different musical traditions – that of the Middle East and of the contemporary classical – could merge seamlessly. In his Quartet No.1, the richness of the scale and rhythms used in Iraqi Maqam (Saba) are deeply rooted in the soil of his nation’s folk