Jamil Bachir

Jamil Bachir or Bashir (Arabic: جميل بشير; b. Mosul, Iraq, 1920; d. London, September 24, 1977) was an Iraqi musician and expert oud player. The Iraqi Music Institute was opened in 1936, under administration of Hanna Petros (1896–1958), then in 1937 Sherif Muheddin Haydar and other professors joined the faculty of the Institute; Jamil Bashir was enrolled to learn oud with Sherif Muheddin Haydar and violin with Sando Albu. He finished his oud studies in 1943 and his violin study in 1946, and then worked at the Institute as an oud and violin teacher. He also wrote a two-volume oud method. Jamil Bashir was also a good singer, but he did not continue singing as he preferred the oud. He died in London on 24 September 1977.

Personal life

Born in Mosul to an ethnic Assyrian/Syriac 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. Jamil Bashir was the brother of oud player Munir Bashir.