Born 1969 in Baghdad, Iraq, performer, composer and music consultant Ahmed Mukhtar has played the oud since age ten. He first worked with many traditional music groups and musicians in Baghdad, later studying in both Syria and Britain. From 1990 he's become a performer and teacher, touring the Middle East, Europe and the US. He currently teaches oud, percussion and Arabic music theory at several schools in London. The music on Babylonian Fingers, rooted in rich and complex Iraqi traditions and Middle Eastern music, is based on maqams and rhythms from ancient Babylon to the present.