IRAQ: Musicians become targets in rising atmosphere of intolerance

sufi

lala
irinnews said:
BAGHDAD, 24 April (IRIN) - Local artists, actors and singers, who have tried to bring smiles to the faces of children living in deteriorating conditions, have been targeted by insurgents and militias who accuse them of indulging in un-Islamic activities.

"Artists are being threatened and killed because they want to change the reality of the country by helping people forget all the violence and death," said Said Kareem, senior official for the Iraqi Artists Association in the capital, Baghdad.

Some fundamentalist Muslim insurgents say that music is un-Islamic, and that people should only listen to verses from the Quran, the Islamic holy book. Acting, theatre and television, they say, tend to encourage bad behaviour and irreligious attitudes.

"Artists are being accused of promoting customs that affect the morality of traditional society," said Kareem. Nearly 80 Iraqis working in artistic professions have been killed since 2005, he added, while many acting troupes and performers have halted their work from fear that they could be the next victim of violence.

On 22 April, two young actors were killed in Baghdad by a local militia for entertaining children through a television programme that works with students in the capital. The actors, 20 year-old Faud Radi and 21 year-old colleague Haidar Jawad of the "Happy Family Team" theatrical group, were killed after receiving previous threats. "They warned us by leaving threatening notes in the van that we use for our work," said Safa'a Eadi, another member of the group.

However, the attack has failed to intimidate the acting troupe, and members say they plan to continue working. "We'll continue our performances for the happiness of the children," said Eadi defiantly.

Other local entertainers, however, say their line of work has become too risky. "I used to live for the theatre," said Yussef Ghadin, a local actor and singer. "Now, though, after two of our colleagues were killed by a local militia for working a 'devil's job', I have to put this dream aside."

took me back to this post on woebot: http://www.woebot.com/2005/12/bhangra_and_islam.html
where i tried to cite some examples of islamic pop music to counter the assertion that islam & music are incompatible :(
 

SIZZLE

gasoline for haters
Ugh. The worst part about this is it reminds me of some article I read about the Taliban warlords in Afghanistan, running around punishing everyone for listening to music but then getting in their car and blasting american tapes when no one could hear. Pure hypocritical fuckery. And connecting back to the thread we were having about spirituality in dubstep I'd say that music is one of the few things that can inspire the same abstract rapture that religion can (I'm religiously non-aligned so no great wealth of experience to back this up). Still I think many of the impulses are the same, lord knows about 50% of the world's best songs are about God.

As far as wonderful Islamic music, I nominate Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Not exactly pop tunes but very ecstatic and very islamic at the same time. I know he was the master but anyone else have any other good Qawwali artists to nominate?

re: listening to the quran, it's not a bad subsitute, as I've heard some beautiful recordings. I remember saying to a guy in the falafel shop 'nice music' he responded: 'it's not music, it's the quran' me: 'uhhhh, nice quran then'. :)
 
D

droid

Guest
Havent the FIS in Algeria been targeting poets and writers for years?
 

corneilius

Well-known member
Rambling - I am moved, and saddened ..

I think thats extraordianary bravery! To continue the creative work that got two of their friends and colleagues murdered. Work whose sole cause is the children, their happiness, wellbeing and healing. Children who have, all of them, suffered terribly at the hands of adult who are violent.

20 year-old Faud Radi and 21 year-old colleague Haidar Jawad are true martyrs, in that their lives were taken because they had taken up the cause of the children, the only genuinely useful cause (as I see things) and as those who espouse other 'causes' see that and are deeply frightened, so they resort to extreme violence to quash or control as a standard tool or mechanism of their cause, and such violence creates a cycle which few can resist. These murders are a 'spin-off' of Blairs War on Terror. A result.

There is some point in comparing levels of violence as control between one society and another, in these times, as the violence has been justified for so long, that an almost genetic acceptance of violence as a political tool pervades the mainstream.

Invading a Sovereign State, under a shifting banner of lies and deceptions, sustaining a war for three years, a war with 200,000 deaths of civilians ....... a war with Depleted Uranium Weapons .... murdering those who would help the children because the religionists say they hate the art .... it's not the art they hate, it's the truth, all of them hate the truth..... and that is why art matters so much now, because it's a way of telling truth.

In south America many artists have taken on the responsibilty of being the communities media, carriers of stories, information, requeims, anthems, messages of hope and solidarity, telling the truth, inspiring, each other to keep the work going.. those aritsts were seeing that they had a role in their society, their communities that is ancient. This awareness is present here too, and it needs to expand, especially as the mechanisms for doing so are at hand. I'm rambling, yet it's been a good ramble. Back to topic.

I am aware that there are other more subtle levels of acceptances, conventions, perceptions and projections that are equally damaging as are the not-so-subtle violent controls, in that these control systems still deflect the person(s) from their own sense of who they are and from the experiential understanding that within themselves is where real authority comes from.

I have experienced this, seen the consequences in my own life, of my own dysfunctional behaviour and learned to deal with my issues, by reflection and listening, by taking time to feel and sometimes to heal, and every day I learn a little more about myself, as I unlearn those many 'acceptances, conventions, perceptions and projections'. So I know this as truth.

Likewise the authority to be who one is. That is truth. Children are born adept at being, and most healthy happy children under the age of 7 or there about retain that quality. It is why they can heal quickly. They are willing to learn new stuff. And there who many are not, many who have already diverted.

We adults, as we grow, tend to lose that quality, or maybe thats just a typical broad-stroke, write them-all-off type of phrase, a 'programmed thought' put in place from reading too many newspapers, too much television ..... i feel that some people just give up on the material they are given, they are smarter yet they 'consume' it (it's so .... inane.... social ....chatter) and just go along with it. And after a while one resigns oneself to the fact that it is this way.

And still, underneath all that there is a spirit wanting to learn, a child wanting to play, a parent wanting to be a childs best friend, a child being her/himself ......

For me that's what politics really ought to be about, it's what grown-up, mature and responsible politics would be about - facillitating the kind of environment that allows children to tell us who they are, to tell us what they want to do, and to feel able to ask us to help them do that.

Left-right.lib.tory.labour it's all a charade! The taliban, the christian neo-cons and all those of religion, be they jew or muslim, hindi or Sikh, who resort to violence or manipulation are charlatans! They have all crafted a belief system, a closed set of concepts that allows no real learning, and they show little willingness to engage with anyone outside their 'group' as real people, equals.

I feel that the best tool for change is the truth. Your truth. His truth. Her truth. What we really feel is information. With the willingness to talk and to listen to each other so that we can begin to integrate our awareness of all the truths with the one truth which is ....... unknowable.

It's not anything other than how we treat each other.
 
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Badmarsh

Well-known member
I'm Muslim and I'm fuckin fedup with these Wahabi, hardline pieces of shit.

There is so much islamic music...there is nothing at all saying its illegal...
 

zhao

there are no accidents
my muslim friend was saying that the seriously devout (some of her cousins) only listen to voice and drums. as strings and melodic instruments lead to earthly passion and emotion.

this makes sense, because a large part of the Music of Islam series (which is ofcourse amazing) is dedicated to just that - chanting in that drunken sing-song style over hand claps and rudimentary yet rhythmically interesting percussion. and they usually keep this up for a very long time... so that after listening for like 40 minutes (which I'm sure is the "radio edit" of how long the actual experience must be), I myself feel somewhat elevated and kind of floating on an aural high.

interesting to think about this kind of ascetic pallete and what it means (devotion, purity, etc) in conjunction with Jungle or stripped down dancehall... Sizzla howling about jah over a skeletal beat...
 
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Badmarsh

Well-known member
try and track down a documentary down by renowned indo-phile and a good friend, mr. william darylymple...i can't remember the name but it was on tv a while ago, about sufi music around the world...and the wahabi restrictions on this in some countries...quite interesting
 
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