Rahim AlHaj has performed hundreds of concerts all over the world, on tour with Munir Bashir, as well as solo and with his string quartet, including in the Middle East, Europe and the United States. Rahim’s music delicately combines traditional Iraqi maqams with contemporary styling and influence. His compositions are about the experience of exile from his homeland and of new beginnings in his adopted country. His songs establish new concepts without altering the foundation of the traditional Iraqi School of Oud.

has five CDs. His latest, “Home Again” Fast Horse Recordings, touching and evocative original compositions portraying his trip to Iraq after 13 years in exile, and “When the Soul is Settled: Music of Iraq,” produced by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings was released in June 2006 at a performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Don Heckman, reviewing the CD for the Los Angeles Times, wrote: Alhaj's spontaneous inventions are constantly fascinating — a convincing affirmation of the rich culture of an embattled area of the world." (January 7, 2007). “Friendship: Oud and Sadaqa String Quartet,” a unique musical collaboration between East and West, was released in December 2005 on Fast Horse Recordings label and received two Grammy nominations. “The Second Baghdad,” (2002) and “Iraqi Music in a Time of War”, (2003) are both produced by VoxLox Records. His plans for 2008 CD titled “lingua franca” a flamenco guitar/oud CD with Ottmar Liebert, Jon Gagan and Barrett Martin.

Rahim won the Albuquerque Arts Alliance Bravo Award 2003 for Excellence in Music and was dubbed: “The Prophet with an Oud” by a music reviewer at the College of William and Mary. There have been a number of recent national articles about his life and musical message including in the Smithsonian Magazine (November 2006), Time Out New York Magazine, (December 13, 2006), NPR All Things Considered feature interview, (December 2006), Los Angeles Times Music Review (January 7, 2007), Global Rhythm (January 2007),Times of London (December 2006), Village Voice Top Picks for 2006 and CMJ’s New World Top Ten (February 2007) and a Reuter’s International News article. Mr. AlHaj’s CD’s have become best sellers and are frequently featured on national radio shows and movies worldwide, including the BBC, NPR All Things Considered, ABC National Radio Australia, Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now and NPR’s Studio 360.