Kadim Al Sahir(Arabic: كاظم الساهر) was born in 1961 in Nainawa, Northern Iraq, one of 10 children of a palace worker. Music arrived through the radio, and al-Saher was entranced, especially by the compositions of the legendary Egyptian composer Mohamed Abdel Wahab. He was so smitten that when he was 10 he sold his bicycle to buy an old guitar, and two years later started writing his own songs. During his teens he switched to oud ("I play oud and guitar.