was marked by progressive degeneration and commercialisation, due to the incompetent and uncritical dealing with western influences. Considering, that the popular chanters were responsible for these trends, he refused to take engagements from them. Messenger of Iraqi music In 1973, the Iraqi ministry of information appointed Bashir to its culture committee; the regime of the Baath party was not well established at that time and made Bashir to a cultural figure of integration of the Christian minority. Also because of his international popularity, Bashir, who rather presented himself apolitical, seemed to be a suited personality for representing the different ethnic, religious, and political groups of his home country. In 1981 – Saddam Hussein was already in power and the actual forces passing over to the Sunnites – the regime also supports the formation of Bashir's Iraqi Traditional Music Group that dedicates itself to the diversity of the Iraqi culture. In 1987 – during the Iran–Iraq War – Bashir succeeded in realising a long-cherished project: For the first time the Babylon International Festival of dance, music, and theatre, which Bashir was leading for several years, took place. But Bashir himself rarely spent his time in Baghdad and finally left the country after the First Gulf War in 1991. Guest performances mainly in Europe offered him a big open-minded audience, and therefore an excellent platform for the presentation of his meanwhile very original and mature style of improvisation and composition. Most of his records were also recorded in Europe. In his last years he aimed at making his son Omar his musical successor. A duo-recording of Bashir and Omar made in February 1994 is considered to be a classic of Bashir's Œuvre, because of its exemplary combination of traditional – mainly folk – material mixed with improvisation. Munir Bashir died of heart failure in 1997 in Budapest at the age of 68, a short time before his planned departure to his Mexican tour. Instrumental style General characteristics In the long history of the oud, Munir Bashir is one of the most important players. His style noticeably differs from other oud-players, for example from the urban “showmanship” in the “typical Egyptian” style of Farid Al Attrach, or from the heavily jazz-oriented music of Lebanese Rabih Abou-Khalil, who is very popular in Europe. Especially in the field of soloistic improvisation (taqsīm) over the common scales (maqām) in Arabian music, his colleagues considered him to