Rida Al Abdulla
Biography
Iraqi singer Rida Al Abdallah
has been singing ever since he was 8 years old. His teachers recognized
his talent from an early age and hence began singing at his school when
he was constantly chosen to sing at all the school events and plays.
Amongst his biggest influence at the time was the Iraqi legend Nathem
Al Ghazali. When he turned 18, he enrolled into the House of Art
and Music Conservatory of Iraq in Baghdad. He studied all aspects
of music for 6 years. Composer Munir Bashir had a big impact on
Rida; he taught him the works of Rawhy Khamash, Doctor Salem Abdel Karim,
Ali Imam and many others. He graduated at the top of his class
as composer on the Oud instrument.
Soon afterwards, he joined
the Academy of Arts, Music and Theatre. Immediately after his
graduation in 1993, he was required to join the Iraqi Army, he served
the obligatory 18 months. However, the Army did not discharge
him and Rida was told in no uncertain terms that he would have to remain
in the army until further notice. As any Iraqi at the time knew,
you could stay in the Army the rest of your life, and Rida’s dream
of becoming a recognized composer and singer was slowly drifting away.
Having lost both of his parents to the Iraqi regime’s torturous treatment,
his personal life was also turning into a nightmare because he had to
support 10 brothers and sisters. He decided to escape from his
military nightmare.
During one of his attempted
escapes, he was caught and jailed for 100 days. He was given a
number, 8152, and his name was erased from existence. He saw all
sorts of torture and death in jail – a frightening experience that
still haunts him to this day. A court ruling was handed on Rida.
He was ordered to serve 16 years in jail and one of his ears to be cut
off. Plus he was going to have a cross permanently tattooed on
his forehead to stop him from getting married to an Iraqi woman or from
obtaining a job upon his release in 16 years.
Prior to the ruling, he was
handcuffed and blind folded and ordered to go to a military camp to
carry out his sentence. He was tortured and beaten upon his arrival
for three days. On the fourth day, in the middle of the night,
two men gagged him in his cell and threw him in the trunk of a car.
They drove him hundreds of miles into the desert, the car stopped and
someone removed his blindfold. It was his brothers Ibrahim and
Abed. He had 24 hours to leave Iraq and escape from his hell.
He got home, saw his parents for a few minutes, was given a passport
and was told how to escape Iraq.
He was down to 58 kg, could barely walk or talk. He left with a few clothing items and his Oud guitar. They drove him to the border with Jordan. Scared the Iraqi border patrol might find out he had escaped jail, he hid in the bathroom at the border. He was too sick, too hungry and had lost a lot of weight during his jail term and he was too scared to walk up to the guard and tell him who he was. There were hundreds of people waiting to cross the border all day. Women, children and old men and women who waited for hours under the scorching sun, Rida thought his chance of crossing would take hours or even days. As luck would have it, within 15 minutes after he got there, the border officer called his name. The guard allowed Rida to cross the border into Jordan and it’s a feeling Rida will never forget. The feeling of freedom overwhelmed him and he started to cry from happiness. Within the last 24 hours, Rida had gone from hell to freedom in another country. For fear the Iraqi police might be following him, the taxi driver took a different road into Jordan and not the usual main highway to Amman. They got to Amman in five hours where he had to share a room with 12 others. He started going around the restaurants and begged the owners to play his guitar. He moved to the college town of Irbid and ended up playing in a restaurant for nine months. He later met an Emirati student who eventually helped him with a visa to Dubai. Fast forward to 2008 and Rida has successfully released four gold albums, toured the United States several times and is currently working on a fifth album.
For more Information contact artist management
Dawn Elder Management
+ World Entertainment + Media Enterprises
Tel 805-963-2415 E-mail demgmt@aol.com