Hesqil Kassab was one of the most famous Iraqi maqam reciters in the twentieth century. He was the title of pioneer of neoclassical singing in Maqam, and he was almost one of the most prominent Iraqi singers from among the Jews of Iraq.
'Hesqil Saul Qassab was born in Baghdad in the last decade of the nineteenth century. The exact year of his birth is not known, but some believe that his birth was in the year 1899. He immigrated to Israel after the Jews were deported from Iraq as a result of the Arab-Israeli conflict, where he continued reading the Maqam and recording songs on Israeli radio, until he died in Israel in 1969.” For the full biography click here (Hebrew).
Click here for the recordings of Hisqil Qassab on Esther Warkov’s YouTube channel with biographical information
See also: Jewish Professional Musicians in Iraq and Israel, Revisited by Esther Warkov.
Sources by Esther Warkov.
