When he was a young boy in Baghdad, Rahim Al Haj picked up the oud, an ancient stringed instrument that predates the European lute.
The oud would become the center of his life and provide the soundtrack of a journey that took him from Iraq to America. Now he lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
He brings his oud along for a conversation with Jacki Lyden about his new CD, When the Soul Is Settled: Music of Iraq.
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