Naseer Shamma was born in 1963 in Kut, a village on the Tigris river in Iraq. He began studying the oud at the age of 12 in Baghdad, following in the footsteps of Jamil and Munir Bachir. He received his diploma from the Baghdad Academy of Music in 1987. He began to teach oud after three years at the academy, as well as continuing his own studies. Shamma has composed music for films, plays and television, and has written a unique oud method for one hand - this is designed for children injured during the Gulf War. Between 1993 and 1998 he taught oud at the Higher Institute of Music in Tunisia, and in 1999 he took the post of Director of the Arab Centre for the Oud in Cairo. He also has a website.

Wrote By "David Parfitt"