Music lights up the streets of Mosul again
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 (IS).
In imposing a ban on playing or even listening to music, the jihadists smashed and torched instruments.
“It was impossible to bring my instrument with me whenever I left the house,” said Mosul resident Fadel al-Badri, who hid his precious violin from the rampaging fighters.
Foreshadowing repression, the 2000s saw al Qaeda and other groups impose an ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam in several districts of the city.
But with Mosul freed from the grip of 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 45-year old violinist 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 ninth century.
One of its more recent musical prodigies is Kazem al-Saher, the Iraqi croonerturned-talent judge known around the region.
Song and dance have traditionally filled the streets and surrounding air. But that meant nothing to IS, which had taken the city in a lightning offensive in 2014.
IS forced musicians in Mosul to sign a pledge that they would never play or sing again.
Singer Ahmed al-Saher, 33, said it was humiliating. “I couldn’t leave Mosul after they made me sign because of my ailing mother. I had to stay here under fear,” he recalled.
Celebrated Iraqi musician Karim Wasfi recently performed in a Mosul park where IS once trained child soldiers. Earlier this month, Iraqi artists from around the country swarmed to the city for a cultural festival at Mosul University.
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