Mick Hartley

Making music in Iraq:

With cinemas closed, the theater dead, and an entertainment-killing curfew in force every night, Iraqis are returning to one of their more ancient traditions – making music in the home.

Music teachers and instrument shop owners say that young Iraqis, bored with television and with little else to do, are investing both time and money in learning to play musical instruments. […]

Raghid, a Christian who can play just about every instrument that he sells in his shop, is adamant that he will not follow most of his relatives who have left Iraq, as he loves his country.

“I am a person who sows life in this troubled, explosive, and insurgency-burdened country,” he said. “I will stick with Iraq and my friends with whom I have spent all my life. We have all decided not to leave each other and to stay put despite the troubles,” he said. “I love my profession and my friends, both Shiites and Sunnis.”

Music teachers are also starting to earn a better living thanks to the revival of home-based entertainment.

Abbas Fadhel, 28, who recently graduated from Baghdad’s Higher Music Institution, uses his downtown apartment as a school where he teaches 15 students a month the system of melodic modes known as maqam used in traditional Arabic music, as well as other more modern genres.

He says that students are torn between getting out and risking traveling the highly dangerous streets of the capital or staying at home and being bored.

“They say they’re afraid to go out, but they also feel they’re wasting their time sitting at home,” said Fadhel. “In the past young people used to go to the theater or the cinema, but now there’s no more entertainment so they’ve started learning music.”

One of Fadhel’s students, 16-year-old Zina Hatham, says that she loves music and is learning to play the keyboard. “It is beautiful and I love spending my time learning how to play,” Hatham said. “I love to express myself through music.”