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Artist
Natik Awayez
8+ albums
iraqarabiccairomiddle eastern musicfolk
about
Singer, lyricist, composer and oud player. In the eighties Natik began his musical path, with ebbs and flows, and some pauses along the way. In 1979, Awayez moved to study philosophy in Bulgaria, where he continued to develop musically. “Coming to Bulgaria at an early age was amazing, a new, energetic freedom blew up inside me after the social conditions back in Iraq,” he recalls. “Bulgarian music is very distinguished, and has been subjected to many cultural interventions throughout the ages. It’s difficult to live in Bulgaria without being influenced by its music.” After his studies, some of Awayez’s Yemeni friends suggested he come and find work in their country, in which he had long been fascinated. The opportunity was too good for him to pass up and he moved in 1981. First learning to play the Oud in the company of fellow local musicians, Awayez departed Iraq in 1979 in the face of political persecution and has spent the past few decades travelling between the Middle East and Europe.Though the album’s only began formal composition around two years ago, the foundations for Manbarani have been decades in the making, informed in part by years spent immersed in the musical culture on the Yemeni-Saudi border. After leaving Yemen due to the ongoing civil war, Awayez founded The Art Consulate, an independent organization concerned with creating an intellectual dialogue between Europe and the Middle-East, before heading in Egypt in 2015 to manage the art project ’Missing Room
