Adnan Karim is a prominent Kurdish singer from Sulaimani, Iraq. He was born in 1963 in Kirkuk. Although coming from a financially challenged family, he received a high levelof education. The first Iraq war and the rise of sectarian violence forced the family to flee Kirkuk and settle in Sulaimani in today's Iraqi Kurdistan Region. Karim continued his educational path in Sulaimani and graduated as an artist. He grew up with his family in an environment rich with culture. During his early teenage years he was exposed to Kurdish traditional music and story telling. Over the years, famous Kurdish musicians influenced him when developing his musical talent. Adnan Karim's first public performance as a musical artist was in 1979. The authenticity of Adnan's style is admired especially by Kurdish people due to the purity of his traditional melodies and the absence of particularly modern elements. The genuine sound of his compositions is rounded up by the harmony between lyrics, sound, and the choice of musical instruments. Audiences get a genuine feeling of the deep and melancholic message delivered by the songs. His soft, deep voice is accompanied by oriental instruments which are deep rooted in Kurdish music. Threatened by Saddam Hussein's regime and the attacks on Kurdish people in the 1990s, Karims's family chose to go into exile to Sweden in 1992. He continued to work on his particular style even while in exile, enrolling in specialised courses. Today, Adnan's music is appreciated both in the Middle East and parts of Europe. Adnan Karim uses first and foremost Kurdish classical poetry which stretches back to the 17th century. His singing in different Kurdish dialects with an excellent prosody so that every one who listens to him can be caught up in provincial feeling so the listeners accept him as one of their local singers. He prefers to sing accompanied by different instruments with different sounds. He composes his own music and often plays the instruments himself. Adnan Karim has up to now taken part in many culture and international arrangements. In the year 2000, Adnan, together with a few musicians, had a successful and much talked about concert in the famous concert hall in Stockholm. He also performed with Living Fire Ensemble in Gothenburg on 02.12.06 and in Stockholm on 02.12.07. After years of inactivity, he reappeared in the Kurd IdolTV program as one of the judges. Now he is named as one of the best singers by many people. His age wasn't a barrier to stop him from singing.
