11/17/2025
AN EVENING OF IRAQI MAQAM
A REFLECTION OF THE STATUS, HISTORY, AND NATURE OF THE LAND AND THE AUTHENTIC IRAQI ARAB PEOPLE
Within a warm, intimate, and humble setting, guests of the Embassy Series and the Embassy of Iraq listened to a unique and powerful musical presentation of Iraqi MAQAM.
Ambassadors Remarks
It is my great pleasure to welcome you (all) to this special evening celebrating the richness of the cultural and musical heritage of Iraq. The MAQAM is considered a vast archive of Iraqi musical history and has survived for centuries due to its use in religious activities and social gatherings. It's worth noting that UNESCO ha(s)ve added the Iraqi MAQAM to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2008 to protect this unique Iraqi tradition.
(Join us) Tonight (as we listen and see) ASALAT KIRKUK musical band (is with us)! ASALAT KIRKUK is an Iraqi maqam orchestra that will take us on a musical journey through the history of Iraqi maqam. A journey that beautifully reflects the cultural mosaic of Iraq itself. Their performance tonight will feature songs in Arabic, Kurdish, and Turkmen, celebrating the unity and harmony of Iraq's diverse heritage. Tonight, as we listen to Iraqi MAQAM, we don't just hear music; we witness a heritage in motion, a living testament to Iraq's strength, creativity, and eternal hope. It also tells us stories of love and longing, home and self, and the shared human experience beyond language and origin. The MAQAM is the musical reflection of the lives of all Iraqis. It is time to immerse ourselves in the sounds of HISTORY, CULTURE, AND IDENTITY – through the timeless Iraqi MAQAM. The performance by ASALAT KIRKUK supports a beautiful reflection of Iraq's diversity and its enduring cultural legacy.
(The Ambassador and his staff provided)- Please enjoy a delicious dinner following the performance, featuring Iraqi cuisine.
Evening Program Notes
The Embassy Series is pleased and excited to announce the first concert of our Fall/Winter season, offering an exceptional opportunity to celebrate the traditional and contemporary music that emerged from the heart of ancient Mesopotamia, widely known as the "Cradle of Civilization." Through this concert, we will celebrate music and culture from a region that witnessed the first emergence of cities, writing, and organized governments, and later became a global center for the arts, science, and learning during the Islamic Golden Age. The band is distinguished by its authentic heritage spirit, derived from the lives and tastes of its ancestors.
The music of Iraq, also known as Iraqi music, encompasses the diverse musical traditions of various ethnic groups and genres.
Ethnically, it includes Mesopotamian, Arabic, Assyrian, Kurdish, and the music of Turkmen, among others. Apart from the traditional music of these peoples, Iraqi music encompasses contemporary music styles, including pop, rock, soul, and urban contemporary. Iraq is recognized mainly for three instruments: the Oud, Iraqi Santur, and Joza. The country's oud-playing tradition has become its own school and a point of reference. This is particularly illustrated by the figure of the acclaimed Munir Bashir. Other renowned Oudists are Naseer Shamma, Omar Bashir, Jamil Bachir, Ahmed Mukhtar, Rahim AlHaj, and Sahar Taha.
The ASALAT KIRKUK Band comprises a group of academic and spiritual artists who have been working in the field of traditional art for more than seven years. The band is distinguished by its authentic heritage spirit, derived from the lives and tastes of our ancestors. Its diversity reflects the beauty of Kirkuk Governorate, which is rich in its customs, traditions, and arts, earning it the nickname "Little Iraq" due to its unique cultural diversity.
This art, MAQAM, and its melodies have distinguished Iraq, presenting a unique model that reflects the status, history, and nature of the land and the authentic Iraqi Arab people.
Iraqi MAQAM is a beautiful form of improvised Iraqi singing performed by a MAQAM reciter accompanied by musicians. This form of art is distinguished by its richness, glory, and aesthetics, and is characterized by melancholy and longing that captivate and dazzle the listener.
Guests of the Embassy Series and Iraqi Embassy included: Emerging Youth Leadership Initiative students, Madi Brooks, Krithiga Narayanan, Taru Ahluwalia, Adrian Mata, Sophia Belay, Avery Harrell, and Grace Kalere. Representatives from the People's Republic of China included Chen, Chunmei, and Jaycey Zhao. And, the quests of the Iraqi Embassy included Dhafer Jalil (DCM), Shameem Rassam (Iraqi media), Ihsan Al Khalidi, Nalan Hassouneh, and Dima Al Faham of the UAE Embassy, as well as Hannah Obaidi, Zainab Yaseen, and Rabab Yaseen.
The Consulate Building
The Embassy of Iraq's consular office, also known as the Boardman House, was constructed in 1893 according to designs by Hornblower & Marshall. William J. Boardman and his family were the first occupants. Boardman's daughter, Mabel, led the American Red Cross in the early 20th century and continued to reside in the home until she died in 1946. Since 1962 (except during the period when diplomatic ties were severed from 1991 to 2003), the building has served as the diplomatic mission of Iraq.
The self-contained form, earthy color, and seemingly stark composition of the Boardman House set it apart from the majority of its more flamboyant contemporaneous neighbors. A low hip roof covers three stories of brown-yellow Roman brick walls set upon an ashlar basement, a compact form derived originally from Italian Renaissance palace models. This heritage is emphasized further by the wide brick frieze that divides the blocky structure into a tall ground story and two upper floors. Its Greek key pattern, made by the long thin bricks, is the same height as the Ionic balustrade order of the balcony rail above the single-story bay window on P Street (and the top-story balcony above it), a detail borrowed directly from the Pitti Palace in Florence. As strong as these Renaissance elements are, they were not employed in an archaeological manner, but rather as a single set of fundamental design principles guiding architects. The second, contradictory tradition at work, the medieval, has been so well integrated into the classical that the two seem natural allies. The grouping and asymmetries of window placement, a low archway with carved Richardsonian Romanesque details, and mottled wall surfaces all suggest the organic, natural, and accidental qualities associated with the long periods of construction during the medieval period. The conflation of the two historical languages transcends them both to result in an architectural idiom that is both European and American, personal to Hornblower and Marshall. Elegance was achieved through the sophisticated and abstract placement of the frameless windows on the tautly stretched wall surfaces, as well as the excellent craftsmanship and seamless integration of the sandstone base, Roman brick walls, and simple terracotta details. (Wikipedia)
