2010 LINEUP ANNOUNCED
When Robin writes songs, he always starts by picking out a melody on the Spanish guitar. So when putting together our 2010 lineup, Robin wanted to explore more of a Spanish flavour. He recruited young flamenco guitarist Chris Duff, and classical guitarist Marko West for the band. Then a chance meeting in a kebab shop gave Robin the idea to complement the nylon sting guitar sound with something really unique.

You might think it was an obvious choice, but for all the instrumentation we’ve utilised throughout the years, we’ve never used the most traditional of Iraqi instruments, the oud. So it’s with great excitement that we introduce, direct from Baghdad, Iraqi oud player Ahmed El Karawi. Ahmed graduated from the university of Baghdad in 1999 with a bachelor of fine arts, majoring in music. After finishing uni he worked as a professional musician and music teacher in Iraq and the UAE, before migrating to Australia in 2009.

Robin often describes Australia as a “healing country”, a place that encourages migrants to let go of old prejudices, ingrained from childhood. Here we often find ourselves shaking hands with people we’d be more likely shaking fists at in our home country. In Iraq, decades of bitterness prevent Assyrians from mixing with Arabs, so it’s with thanks to Australia that we welcome Ahmed into our band.

LOST RECORDINGS REDISCOVERED
Back in Iraq in the sixties, Robin’s father Awimalik Haider was a music star in his own right. Recently we unearthed some vintage quarter-inch tapes containing original recordings of his band. The tapes were in good condition for their age, so we called on William Bowden from King Willy Sound, who mastered our Planetarian album. With William, we digitally remastered five songs for release.

The style of music ranges from the lively “Plitla Gu Aurkhi”, (a song that Azadoota sometimes performs which was a big hit for Awimalik) through sixties style pop and bossa nova to tender love ballads. The band features guitar, bass, violin, piano, piano accordion and drums.

Some of the songs were recorded at a studio in Baghdad, others at Baghdad’s Melha Leyali Safa nightclub where the band used to perform. Awimalik says that back then, even when they were recording in a studio, there would just be one microphone set up in the centre of the room. The band would arrange themselves around it and they’d play the song. There was no multi-track recording, mixing or overdubbing, and most often the song would be recorded in a single take.

Look out for Awimalik Haider’s digitally remastered CD available through the Azadoota website in the coming months.