Jamil Bashir

Jamil Bashir (Arabic: جميل بشير; 1921 – September 24, 1977), also spelt Bachir, was an Iraqi musician and expert oud player.

Jamil Bashir was born in Mosul, Iraq, in 1921,¹ to an ethnic Assyrian Christian family. His father was a singer and a well-known oud player who started to teach him the oud when he was around six years old, and he was the brother of oud player Munir Bashir.¹

Bashir was enrolled at the Iraqi Music Institute, also known as Baghdad Conservatory, when it opened in 1936, to learn oud with Sherif Muheddin Haydar and violin with Sando Albu.¹ He graduated with honours degrees in oud in 1943 and violin in 1946.

Bashir worked at the Institute as an oud and violin teacher,¹ along with his brother Munir. Among others, he taught Rahim AlHaj.²

He headed first the Baghdad Radio Orchestra, and later the Baghdad Radio Music Department.¹

Bashir wrote a two-volume oud method, and was also a good singer.¹

Bashir died in London on 24 September 1977.¹