Personal Info
- Country of residence: Iraq
Information
Rawhi Al-Khammash (1923 - 1998) is
an Iraqi musician, musician, and composer of Palestinian origin. He had a major
role in the development and preservation of Iraqi music, and the flourishing of
the musical movement in Iraq. He founded artistic bands that contributed a
great role in preserving and developing Iraqi artistic heritage, such as the
Muwashahat Ensemble in 1948. Which changed its name in 1961 to the Sons of the
Tigris Band, the Iraqi Chanting Band, and the Baghdad Quintet, which changed
its name to (Fine Arts Quintet) and other bands that left a clear imprint on
the march of Iraqi art, singing, and music during the second half of the
twentieth century. He is the composer of the chant (O God of the Universe), a
religious supplication associated with the traditions and rituals of Ramadan in
Iraq.
his life
Rawhi Al-Khammash was born in 1923
in Nablus in occupied Palestine, where he grew up. He began his studies at
Al-Khalidiya Primary School in 1928-1929, then moved to Al-Najah School until
he graduated from it. He began his artistic life at an early age, as his father
developed his talent, refined his intelligence, and supported his passion for
art and singing, so he bought him a small lute when he was only six years old
so that he could play and practice on it. He was remarkably attached to his oud
and began translating all his music into his oud with great eagerness and
fondness. One of his relatives was supervising his playing and following him
artistically when he saw the signs of intelligence evident and visible in his
works. The latter was Ahmed Abdel Wahed Al-Khammash, who studied music in Turkey.
Within one year, Rouhi was able to master maqamat such as “Becharaf Rast Assem
Bey” and “Becharaf Rast Tatios Effendi” and some old drums and an old Sami
Bayati by Sami Shawa.
He mastered playing the oud and
singing dawrs and muwashshahs at the age of seven. In 1932, when the Arab Art
Exhibition was held in the city of Jerusalem, it was Rouhi's first opportunity
to sing in front of the artist Sami Shawa, who was participating in his band in
the exhibition. He admired this boy's voice, encouraged him to continue, and
predicted a promising future for him. It was a coincidence that the artist,
Sami Al-Shawa, listened to the singing of Rawhi Al-Khammash in the role of “I
Love to See You” by the artist, Mohamed Abdel-Wahhab.
In the year 1933 A.D., his father
presented him as a oud player in front of a large audience from Palestinian and
Arab cities. He was influential in hearing, capturing the hearts of all, and
controlling the admiration of those interested in music, winning their
approval, as he performed some of the lyrical pieces of music by Muhammad Abd
al-Wahhab and Umm Kulthum. The artist Abdel-Wahhab had come to Palestine at the
time, and it was fortunate for Rawhi Al-Khammash that he sang in front of him
and revealed his musical talent in his playing and singing. The artist, Mohamed
Abdel-Wahhab, was impressed by his ingenuity and great talent, so he gave him a
symbolic gift that expressed his great admiration for this talented child. At
the age of ten, circumstances required that he be able to stand and sing in
front of the lady of Arab singing, Umm Kulthum, during her visit to the city of
Jaffa and to perform a concert at the Abu Shakush Café in the city in 1933,
where the boy, Ruhi Al-Khammash, sang in front of her the muwashah “I Was
Silent and Tears Speak” by Muhammad Al-Qasabji, and his mother kissed him.
Kulthum praised him and asked him to sing more and sat him on her lap as an
expression of her interest in him and her greatness and reverence for his
talent at such a young age. She admired him very much and predicted a
prosperous artistic future for him.
When he completed elementary
school, his reputation had spread throughout his city, and he was known for his
ability and was famous for his intelligence. At the beginning of 1935, his news
reached Prince Abdullah, who was asked by King Ghazi to invite him to Baghdad,
where the original civilization, creativity and great art are, so King Ghazi
received him, so he sang to him as he sang to Prince Abdullah before and added
to it the famous national anthems that aroused the admiration of King Ghazi and
moved him. His emotions towards him and prompted him to gift him his personal
watch and an amount of money as a title of his admiration for him and in
appreciation of his penetrating talent, and of course that had a clear impact
on the personality of that child. King Ghazi hosted the child Rouhi in Iraq for
six months, during which Rouhi gave many concerts to school students.
And when the Palestinian
Broadcasting House opened in 1936 AD, he returned again to participate in his
country, where he participated as a creative artist, producer and presenter of
a program in which he performed his concerts for a year. In the year 1937/1938
AD, he traveled on a study mission to Cairo at the King Fuad I Institute of
Arabic Music in order to refine his talent and implement it with the required
experience, practice and study experience. A committee consisting of Professors
Darwish Al-Hariri, Safar Bey Ali, the technical assistant, Dr. Mahmoud Ahmed
Al-Hefny, the administrative assistant, Monsieur Kosnax, teacher of musical
notation (solfege) and music theories, and Fouad Al-Iskandarani, teacher of
singing, conducted the admission test for him at the institute. Rouhi graduated
from the Institute with honors in 1939, to return to Palestine to work there.
He moved to Jerusalem in 1939 and was appointed head of the music band on the
Palestinian Radio, where he continued to work until 1948.
Rawhi al-Khammash graduated from
the Oriental Music Institute in 1943 and then returned to Nablus to study music
for a short period, after which he moved to Damascus, where he began composing
music.
Fifty years in Baghdad
In the year of the Palestinian
Nakba 1948, the Palestinian Radio was attacked, and its building in the Talbieh
neighborhood in West Jerusalem was destroyed, so Rawhi Al-Khammash returned to
his city, Nablus. After that, the Iraqi military governor of the city of
Nablus, Taher Al-Zubaidi, summoned him and praised his patriotic role and
talent, and thanked him for his participation in reviving a number of concerts
for the Iraqi army. Baghdad, accompanied by a group of Iraqi artists who were
in Palestine at that time to perform concerts at the bases of the Iraqi army
stationed in Palestine. Al-Khammash arrived in Baghdad in July 1948 with his
two sisters, Dunia and Firdous, in an Iraqi military vehicle.
In Baghdad, Rawhi Al-Khammash found
a broader horizon for artistic work and found himself drawing from a rich
artistic and lyrical heritage that was not available to him during his stay in
Jerusalem. In Radio Baghdad, in which he was employed, he directly took over
the leadership of the evening music band, this band that used to present its
songs and musical pieces every evening, and on the air, and to him goes the
credit for establishing, developing and providing the musical section of the
radio with professional musical competencies. There, in Baghdad, Rawhi
Al-Khammash met his teacher, the well-known Arabic Muwashahat teacher, Sheikh
Ali Al-Darwish, from whom he had previously learned a lot during their work
together on Al-Quds Radio, where they together in Baghdad founded the
Andalusian Muwashahat Ensemble, where Al-Durish was eighty years old while
Al-Khammash was five years old. Only twenty. Al-Khammash also taught playing
the oud in 1953 at the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad.
Khammash played a role in the
development and preservation of Iraqi music, and that was a period during which
the musical movement flourished there. He founded artistic troupes that played
a major role in preserving and developing the Iraqi artistic heritage. Among
the artistic, musical and chanting troupes he founded in Iraq, or had a key
role in establishing them: The Muwashahat Ensemble in 1948 (whose name was
changed in 1961 to the Sons of the Tigris Ensemble, the Second Muwashahat
Ensemble). ), the Iraqi chanting band, and other groups that left a clear
imprint on the march of art, singing, and music in Iraq. He was a brilliant
player on the lute, a beautiful singer, a composer and a creative composer. In
the field of composing, he wrote thirty stanzas, including: “Bring, O my
beloved, my cup,” “Oh, full of praise,” and “Ajfwa or Dalal.” He also composed
seven religious invocations, including “Labbaik, I have stayed home for you,”and “Oh, one who perplexes a person.” Your Power”, and “The Wisdom of Fasting”,
and composed eight patriotic anthems, including “One Homeland”, “My Arab
Brother”, and “The Victorious National Army”. In the field of musical
composition, he composed four acoustics and one longa; It is a piece of music
with a fast and active nature, in addition to seventeen pieces of music,
including “Sham Al-Nessim”, “The Banks of the Tigris”, and “The Joys of Youth”.
Adding the seventh string to the
oud
Khammash’s relationship with the
oud instrument is an old one that dates back to his early childhood years. He
studied playing the oud academically and then became a professor in teaching to
play it. He often thought about developing the performance of this musical
instrument that accompanied him throughout his life, and he added the seventh
string to obtain the full sounds that It is legislated by the oud instrument to
facilitate the playing style, technique and melodies improvisation. Adding the
seventh string to the oud is considered a great musical achievement that is
unique to the Khammash.
At the end of the seventies, Rawhi
Al-Khammash retired from art and bought agricultural land in Latifiya (a suburb
of Baghdad). But he could not resist the invitations and insistence of the
people of art, and he had to return again, and on his return he was a teacher
of the oud instrument at the Institute of Tonal Studies and worked in the same
job in the afternoon at the Iraqi Maqam House, and he continued to do so until
the end of his life. At that time, he also devoted himself to his agricultural
land and established farms for raising poultry, birds, and cows, in addition to
exploiting them agriculturally, in continuation of his rural family’s approach,
and he lived on his land from 1986 to 1998. In mid-1998, he was surprised by
symptoms of a disease that was difficult to recover from, and as a result he
lay in the hospital and remained There he passed away on Tuesday, the tenth of
Jumada al-Awwal, 1418 AH, corresponding to the thirtieth day of August 1998.
The Iraqi Artists Syndicate held a funeral for him befitting the great artist.
He was buried after him in the Karkh cemetery located west of Baghdad.
Achievements and Awards
Honoring
He was awarded the Jerusalem Medal
for Culture, Arts and Literature.
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