Wed 4/26, 1:30p: Carol Boss welcomes one of the world's most prominent and renowned oud masters. On his new recording from Smithsonian Folkways, Rahim AlHaj conveys the story of contemporary Baghdad from the fall of Saddam Hussein to the present day.
Rahim fled Iraq, his native land, in 1991 after being imprisoned twice for his political outspokenness. He came to the U.S. in 2000 as a political refugee and has resided in Albuquerque ever since. In 2015 he was awarded The National Heritage Fellowship, a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts.
