Cellist plays music of ‘peace and security’ in the now liberated ISIS capital of Mosul

Iraqi cellist and conductor Karim Wasfi played a concert for “peace and coexistence” in the ruins of Mosul, almost a year after Iraqi forces ousted the militant group ISIS from the capital of its self-declared caliphate.

Dozens of people were in attendance on Friday as Wasfi, in full concert dress, played on a makeshift stage among the most famous religious monuments of Iraq’s second city.

The venue lay between the Roman Catholic church of Our Lady of the Hour with its landmark clock tower and the remains of the Hadba leaning minaret next to Al Nuri Mosque, destroyed during the battle for the city.

Wasfi was joined by the violinist, guitar and oud players of local band Awtar Nerkal.

“This music is a message from Mosul to the whole world, of the concepts of security, peace and coexistence,” Wasfi said.

The dual Iraqi-US national is a former conductor of Iraq’s National Symphony Orchestra and has been nicknamed “Iraq’s Rostropovich” after the Russian maestro cellist.

The music was “a call for companies, investors and organisations to come and take part in the reconstruction of the city, especially its destroyed Old Town”, the bearded and bespectacled artist said.

The impromptu concert came in the same week that Iraqi authorities finally launched clean-up operations in the city that the extremist militants held for three years until July last year.

Several times over the past three years, Wasfi, who was born in Cairo, has taken his cello on to the streets of Baghdad to play at bomb sites shortly after attacks.