al-Hājj Hāshim al-Rajab

Hashim al-Rajab, also known as al-Hājj Hāshim al-Rajab, is an Iraqi ethnomusicologist and santur player born in al-A‘zamiyya in June 1921. His name is closely associated with the study and promotion of the maqam, the modal system of the Arab musical tradition, especially the classical music of Iraq.

His interest in the maqam arose in the 1930s, when he heard the singing of two masters, Muhammad al-Qundarjī, who died in 1945, and ‘Abbās al-Shaykhalī, who lived from 1881 to 1967. In 1937 he began learning the maqam on his own. Around 1949 he started receiving santur lessons from Sha‘ūbī Ibrāhīm Khalīl, born in 1925, and in 1950 he founded a chamber ensemble in Baghdad, al-shalghī al-baghdādī, with which he toured numerous towns and made the maqam known to the public.

Alongside his performance, his research work was extensive. He wrote on the Iraqi maqam and published studies on the abūdhiyya, as well as scholarly studies and glosses on treatises by classical authors such as Safī al-Dīn al-Urmawī, al-Ghazālī, Ibn Abī al-Dunyā and al-Lādhiqī. His command of manuscripts enabled him to edit and annotate these theoretical texts.

His legacy lies above all in the documentation and transmission of the Iraqi musical tradition. His editions of medieval and modern sources and his books on the maqam remain standard references for anyone studying the theory and practice of Arab music in Iraq.