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Ali Merdan

Iraqi musician (1904–1981)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJan 3, 2026
Entity authorityQ4115452
Source-derived summary

Ali Merdan (Kurdish: عه‌لی مه‌ردان‎; 1904–1981) was an Iraqi musician of Kurdish descent who was born in Kirkuk. He widely regarded as the man who revolutionized the maqam. Ali Mardan launched the Kurdish Radio Station in 1939 in Baghdad.

Childhood

At the age of six, Ali's father died therefore many responsibilities fell on his shoulder like supporting his family and at the same time to finish his studies.

Career

During his half a century career, according to relatives and close friends, he sang more than 1000 songs, but not all of them have been recorded due to a lack of recording equipment in his early days. Ali merdan was the inspirational artist and inspired the golden generation of Kurdish Singers such as Muhamad Salih Dilan, Mamle, Hesen Zirek, Tahir Tewfiq, and Ahmad Shamal.

Death

On July 24, 1981, Ali Merdan died at the age of 77.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Ali Merdan” is iraqi musician (1904–1981). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Merdan, Iraqi and musician, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1904, 1981, 1939, 1000—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1904-01-01. For this dossier, Merdan, Iraqi and musician is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “iraqi musician (1904–1981)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4115452. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1904, 1981, 1939 and 1000.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Ali Merdan”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Ali Merdan primary sources, Ali Merdan archive and Merdan research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ali Merdan”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Ali Merdan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.