Yusuf Omar was, next to Muhammad al-Qubbanji, the greatest Maqam singer of the past century in Iraq. This singer and especially this recording is the crown of Iraqi Maqam music and Maqam music in general. I discovered this great singer and this great musical tradition with this LP shortly after it was released. It was amongst the very first LPs - I think the second - of Arabic music I have. This LP was later released as a CD with an additional track, unfortunately no longer available for many years.
The scans of the booklet inside this gatefold LP I took from an earlier post of this LP somewhere in the internet. I don't remember anymore where that was.
In 1995 a fantastic double CD was published by Inédit - Maison des Cultures du Monde in Paris. It can be obtained from their website:
In the booklet to this double CD one can find good information about this tradition and the singer and his musicians. This booklet can be downloaded here.
