The lyricist Karim al-Iraqi, one of the most prominent Iraqi folk poem writers, passed away on Friday and left a great legacy in Iraqi art, through his poems that achieved fame with the voices of the greatest singers in the Arab world, most notably Kazem al-Saher.
A special relationship brought together Karim Al-Iraqi with Kazem Al-Saher, who mourned “Rafik Darbah” on Friday. Their story together dates back to the eighties, when they released the first work of art that collected Al-Iraqi’s words in Al-Saher’s voice, which is the song “People Shouted”.
This song was the starting point for dozens of “immortal” songs, written by Karim Al Iraqi and sung by Kazem El Saher.
human relationship
Kazem El-Saher’s relationship with Karim Al-Iraqi began during military service in Iraq, in 1986, when they got to know each other for the first time, and the start of a unique artistic relationship.
Their first artistic work was the song “Shajaha Al-Nas”, which is the introduction song to the Iraqi series “Nadia”, which was released in 1988.
After that, Al-Saher continued to work with Karim Al-Iraqi, until they left Iraq together, towards the space of art in the Arab world.
After the deterioration of Karim al-Iraqi’s health in recent years, Kazem al-Saher persevered in following his companion on his path, and continued to visit and ask about him, until the moment of separation came.
leading business
“Immortal” works of art, which brought together Karim Al-Iraqi with Kazem Al-Saher, including the light and romantic ones, such as “Ya Mudalal”, including the influential patriotic ones, such as “Many Hadiths”, and the deep and philosophical ones, such as “He Was My Friend”.
Among dozens of works between Kazem El-Saher and Karim Al-Iraqi, the song “Eid and Love”, which has become the official anthem for Iraqi occasions such as weddings and parties.
As for the song “Bab Al-Jar”, it embodied the Iraqi citizen’s suffering from alienation in the nineties, and its words fell like bullets on the Iraqis, whose experiences in alienation were the beginning of the nineties.
As for the song “Ha Habibi”, in it Karim Al-Iraqi reached the summit of romance, and with Kazem’s voice, it reached all lovers in Iraq and the Arab world, and it is still to this day a romantic icon.
However, the poem “A Lot of Hadith” remains the most influential of Karim al-Iraqi’s poems on Iraqis, especially because of the story it tells, which Kazem al-Saher excelled in composing and singing.
The lyrics of the poem tell of a young man’s flirtation with a woman he loves.
To reveal at the end of the song, the one Kazem flirts with in the song is Baghdad, which Karim described with the phrase “If my heart were silent, he would hear it.”
Karim left our world, but his works, which were embodied by his “companion on his path”, the artist Kazem El Saher, will remain forever.
