Listen to SOAS Music Student Perform at the Proms
9 August 2010
MMus student Khyam Allami has been selected to perform with an acclaimed Iraqi musician at the Royal Albert Hall on Monday, 9th August, as part of the 2010 Proms season.
Khyam Allami, who is of Iraqi origin, is an outstanding young player of the oud (Middle Eastern lute) and a budding scholar of Middle Eastern music. He is the first protegé/mentee for BBC Radio 3's prestigious new mentoring scheme, World Routes Academy.
His mentor is the celebrated Jordan-based Iraqi musician Ilham Al Madfai, a pioneering Iraqi guitarist, singer and composer who was the first in his country to internationalise Iraqi music and blend it with contemporary world styles.
BBC Radio 3's flagship world and traditional music programme, World Routes, has been broadcasting the musical exchange and shared performances between the two musicians, culminating with a showcase concert as part of the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London, at 10 pm on Monday, 9th August. Broadcast live on Radio 3, it will remain available on demand for seven days.
World Routes, hosted by SOAS Lecturer in African Music Lucy Durán (pictured with Khyam Allami, right), was nominated this year for a Sony Award as Best Specialist Music Programme.
'Khyam Allami has always stood out as an exceptionally dedicated, talented and original musician and student,' said Durán. 'This was apparent from the first time I met him five years ago, when he came into my office hoping for a place in the undergraduate programme, and played an exquisite Iraqi maqam on the oud. That was it, he was in!'
The first programme, featuring Khyam Allami in session at Broadcasting House in London, was broadcast on 27 March. Further programmes were recorded in Lebanon, Syria (where Khyam was born) and Jordan (where Ilham Al Madfai lives).
'It was wonderful to hear Khyam waxing lyrical about SOAS to the musicians he was performing with,' said Durán, who participated in the trip. 'He is a true ambassador for SOAS.'
The World Routes Academy, which was launched earlier this year, is a mentoring scheme with a special emphasis on musical traditions from around the world that for one reason or another are endangered. The idea is to foster the exchange of musical knowledge and experience between different generations from the same musical culture, and also to highlight and provide exposure to the richness of its music.
For more details visit the Radio 3 website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldmusic/worldroutesacademy
Prom 33: BBC Radio 3 World Routes Academy
Monday, 9th August
Ilham Al Madfai and Khyam Allami
Royal Albert Hall, London
http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/2010/whatson/0908.shtml
