Hamid Al-Saadi embodies still waters that run deep

World music performer Hamid Al-Saadi.

Iraqi maqam vocalist Hamid Al-Saadi usually refrains from dramatic expressions when he performs. While his voice flows across different registers, he remains seated and focuses forward. This outward calm also hardly reveals how much effort he has put into preserving his music's legacy.

Maqam is one of the oldest and most influential classical Arabic genres. Its melodies are based on complex 24-note scales, so imagine extra notes in between black and white piano keys. The Iraqi version may be the most venerated. That's because the 400-year-old song cycles that developed in Baghdad are rooted in a cosmopolitan history, according to Al-Saadi.