Here is a story up on the dangers of being a musician in Iraq, including mass destruction of musical instruments and fake weddings being set up to ambush musicians. I’ve never read anything about this aspect of Iraq War II, so I found it pretty stirring, if not downright depressing. Both Al-Qaeda and The Mahdi Army didn’t take too kindly to musicians, many of whom were killed, had to play their music in hiding, or had to stop playing altogether It’s important for me to take a breather now and again from kvetching about Katy Perry to remember the often life-and-death struggles that artists around the world undertake against oppressive forces. [AFP]
Being An Iraqi Musician Is A Dangerous Profession
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If you’ll allow me to indulge my world music geekery, here’s a link to an amazing Iraqi oud player based in Portland, OR (where else?). Rahim Alhaj:
[www.rahimalhaj.com]
He just played Joe’s Pub here in NYC in Sept. and is coming out with a new album in ‘09… Hell, we destroyed his country, the least we can do is support his music…
There was that documentary made about a metal band trying to make it in Iraq too, which I of course can’t remember. sigh.