+1
Images
Ilham Al Madfai
Ilham al-Madfai, born in 1942 in Baghdad, Kingdom of Iraq, is a guitarist known
for blending Western guitar stylings with traditional Iraqi music. He began
studying guitar at age twelve and formed The Twisters in 1961, Iraq's first rock
and roll band. After moving to England for an engineering degree, al-Madfai
returned to Baghdad in 1967 and started mixing Western and Eastern
instrumentation. His career gained traction in the 1970s but was disrupted by
Saddam Hussein's rise to power in 1979, leading him to leave Iraq. He emigrated
to Jordan in 1994. Al-Madfai released his debut ...
