After years, music fills streets of Mosul
MOSUL, Iraq — For centuries, it was a magnet for artists across the region and churned out Iraq’s best musicians — but recent years saw Mosul suffer a devastating musical purge.
For three years until last summer, the sprawling northern city was under the brutal rule of the Islamic State group.
In imposing a citywide ban on playing or even listening to music, the terrorists smashed and torched instruments.
“It was impossible to bring my instrument with me whenever I left the house,” said resident Fadel al-Badri, who hid his precious violin from the rampaging fighters.
But with Mosul freed from the grip of the IS in July 2017, Iraq’s second city is embarking on a musical comeback.
“After the liberation, songs are back where they truly belong in Mosul,” said Badri, welcoming the return of evening celebrations and festivals.
The violinist, 45, now has the pleasure of playing in public once more to an audience that claps hands and sings along to traditional local tunes.
Mosul has a rich musical history. It is the home city of Ziryab, a musician who introduced the oud — the oriental lute popular across the Arab world — to Europe in the 9th century.
The city even has its own special genre of Arabic ballads, recognized across Iraq.
From folkloric shows and philharmonic concerts to weddings and other national holidays, song and dance have traditionally filled the streets and surrounding air.
But that meant nothing to the IS, which ravaged Mosul’s heritage — musical and otherwise — when it took the city as part of a lightning offensive across Iraq in 2014.
The group began by destroying the statue of celebrated ballad virtuoso Mulla Uthman al-Mosuli, and then turned their attention to destroying instruments across the city.
The IS forced musicians in Mosul to sign a pledge that they would never play or sing again, which was then posted in public places like mosques.
Singer Ahmed al-Saher, 33, said it was humiliating.
“I couldn’t leave Mosul after they made me sign because of my sick mother. I had to stay here under all that pressure and fear of the unknown,” he said.
Ordinary residents, as well as musicians, are keen to celebrate the return of artistic freedom. “Terrorism failed in killing Mosulites’ love for art in all forms. It’s been born again, despite the destruction,” said Amneh al-Hayyali.
The 38-year-old brought her husband, son and daughter to watch a late-night concert in a cultural center in east Mosul.
“Today, after the dark era of beheadings, lashings, beards and veils being imposed on us. ... We sing,” she said.
But bringing Mosul’s artistic scene back to its former heyday will not be easy.
Tahsin Haddad, who heads the local artists’ syndicate, said he is keen to support public arts across the province.
“But we are in huge need of support from the central government in Baghdad, especially because Mosul currently has no stages, movie theaters, or art spaces,” he said.
Nov 6.