Ilham Al-Madfai

Available for over a year

In his second encounter with Iraq and its musicians, Andy Kershaw meets one of Iraq's top performers, now a famous name throughout the Arab world. Ilham Al-Madfai was born in Baghdad, became a star singer in the 1970s, but left Iraq when Saddam Hussein came to power in 1979. However, at the start of the Gulf War in 1991, he returned to Iraq to become a national hero. He now lives in Jordan's capital, Amman. Andy also hears Sufi trance music in Baghdad's most famous mosque and visits Baghdad's Voice of Youth FM station.