Background
Osama Abdulrasol is an Iraqi qanun player, composer, producer, and visual artist. He was born in Babylon into a deeply religious family.
Music in secret
Because music was forbidden and he wasn’t allowed to play at home, Osama learned music entirely in secret. For years he practised without anyone knowing. He studied music from books—building it in his imagination.
MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST
Over time, Osama mastered an impressive range of instruments: accordion, violin, qanun, oud, clarinet, saxophone, and guitar. His musical path has taken him through classical music, folk, rock, heavy metal—and more.
A jazz revelation
Curious about jazz, Osama went searching for it in small music shops in Baghdad. He found a cassette simply labelled 'Jazz' in Arabic—no names, no track titles. Twenty years later, at a concert in Belgium, he discovered the recording was by none other than Toots Thielemans.
Recognition
In 2013, Osama received Ghent’s Culture Prize for his remarkable musical personality and cultural contributions.
