Composer, songwriter and ud player, Natik Awayez was born in southern Iraq. He grew up between Amarah and Baghdad. He learned ud from local musicians and soon started to compose music.
In 1979 due to instability and political persecution in Iraq, Awayez moved to Bulgaria, to study philosophy. He was attracted to Bulgarian music.
In 1981, Awayez moved to the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen. He settled in Aden first and later relocated to the Beihan desert area, on the border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia. In the city of Abyan he founded and led Asheed Band for a number of years and worked together with the Zinjibar City Band as a composer and art supervisor. In Yemen, he was introduced to a different way of playing the ud.
With the outbreak of the civil war in Yemen, Awayez once more had to leave. He moved to Sweden in 1986 and stayed there until 2014. In Lund, Awayez co-founded the band Natik City with some members of the legendary band Agurk Players. In Malmo, he co-founded Shahrazad in collaboration with the Swedish string quartet Amandakvartetten.
In 2013, he founded The Art Consulate, an independent organization that was involved in creating an intellectual dialog between Europe and the Middle East. This work ultimately led him to move to Cairo in 2015, where he managed an art project under the name of Missing Rooms.
In Cairo he recorded his debut album, titled Manbarani. Awayez says about the album: “Iraq is the source and Yemen the soul. As for Cairo, it has offered me snippets of time and a small abode, a handful of its most beautiful musicians and a lot of love. And so, Manbarani came to be.”
Discography:
Manbarani (Sublime Frequencies, 2021)
[headline image: Natik Awayz – Photo by Maged Nader]
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.