“Mahdoom” for Trombone Solo and the Children of Iraq

Abstract

Mahdoom for trombone solo[1] was composed as a tribute to the thousands of Iraqi children who, according to the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), died at the rate of 5000-6000 every month, as a consequence of the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq by the United Nations’ (UN) Security Council, after Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990 [2]. It was also composed for those surviving Iraqi children whose futures were destroyed by malnutrition, disease, psychological trauma, and lack of education, resulting from the embargo and the ongoing military violence (not to mention the devastating effects the hundreds of tonnes of depleted uranium left behind in Iraq, by the US-led coalition during the Gulf Wars [3]. The title “Mahdoom” is an Arabic passive participle which signifies “demolished,” “destroyed,” and “razed to the ground.” [4]