Academy of Art and Arabic Heritage's Choir

“Academy of Arts and Arab Heritage CHOIR”

One of the most important projects of the Academy of Arts and Arab Heritage in Britain, established in 2016 as part of the academy’s significant initiatives. The founders, Iraqi visual artist Bassim Mahdi and Iraqi director Zainab Al-Jawari, were keen to make it the first music project of its kind in Britain and Europe.

The choir consists of approximately 50 members, both women and men, from various parts of the Arab world who reside in and around London, the capital city.

The choir presents various rich and diverse styles of Arab singing, including different dialects, musical forms, and vocal performances. It showcases the extensive variety of Arab maqamat (musical modes), with 54 primary maqamat and over 100 subsidiary and local ones, along with countless rhythmic patterns.

This evolution and diversity are a result of the succession of different civilizations in the Arab world, some dating back 7,000 years. Additionally, new compositions have been introduced that reflect the intellectual and musical heritage of this civilization.

In our performances, we carefully select a bouquet of flowers from every garden. Each flower exudes a rich fragrance of ancient and new stories, filled with love, nostalgia, joy, sorrow, longing, and pride. Our repertoire spans classical Arabic and Andalusian muwashshahat, folk songs, qudud, poems, and mawawil, as well as songs from the golden era, Georgian melodies, and laami. We also explore pentatonic scales, raï music, and Gulf rhythms.

We take pride in our choir and invite you to join us on this musical journey.