Today we’re recording about 5 songs by Mr. Ghazi Ahmed, a Kurdish refugee from Iraq.  Mr. Ahmed was resettled through the International Rescue Committee’s Baltimore field office where I work and he has dazzled many of us with his incredible skill and soulful singing of Anatolian/Babylonian/Kurdish melodies and playing of the Oud and Saz (photo above).  My dear friend, brilliant bassist, and master engineer Jake Leckie agreed to record Mr. Ahmed at a university-based studio in north Baltimore.  Here are some videos of Mr. Ahmed’s beautiful playing on oud and saz: