Iraqi orchestra pushes unity in rare performance

Source: Reuters

BAGHDAD, May 21 (Reuters) - The national symphony orchestra hoped music would bring Iraqis into harmony in a concert on Wednesday which highlighted sectarian violence that has killed tens of thousands of people, including some of its members.

Before directing the rare public performance, conductor Karim Wasfi said his cellists and violinists could bring peace of mind to Iraqis, who face daily bombings and shootings.

...

The orchestra could not have drawn a big audience no matter how hypnotising the concerto.

Only Iraqis with identification papers approved by the U.S. military can enter the Green Zone, a sprawling complex with long blast walls that has been hit by deadly mortar attacks.

The concert, attended by about 100 people, featured the first foreign conductor since before the U.S. invasion, and Oliver Gilmour said it had been a rewarding but unnerving experience.

"I was transported in a Humvee (armoured vehicle) and sat there with a soldier manning a machinegun above me," said Gilmour.


Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L21910544.htm

such a GREAT CULTURE...OUR OWN BEGINNINGS IN FACT..to be wiped out like that in 6 years what took 6,000 to build is totally appalling!

if it weren't for the fact you need the permission of the US Government to enter the Green Zone, and most Iraqis don't have it.

in that destroyed society...more sadness yet!

As the lights are dimmed, machine gun fire erupts in the orchestra pit. Duke hits the floor and yells at his host,

"What the hell is that?"

"That's the Overture, Ambassador Duke."

"Automatic weaponry is the Overture?

"As it is so often in life, Ambassador."

I wonder if they performed the 1812 Overture with howitzers or if they used IED's to give it a local flavor?

100 people in the audience? There would have been almost as many in the orchestra. What a weird concert.

On a more practical note, where does one buy reeds or strings or have an instrument repaired in Baghdad these days?

"Sorry, I've have to get my horn fixed. I'm going to Dubai. I'll be back in about 10 years. Don't start without me, okay"?

when I saw the headline was "I hope they weren't playing any Tchaikovsky"

And we'd be lucky if we could even get 100 people in the audience.

From what I understand, the arts in Iraq has suffered since our invasion due to the rise of fundamentalist religion and thats truly tragic.

allowing music to spew from the minarettes....

naw....
probably would be called an abomination.

wishful thinking

...having to play for the very ones who unleashed hell upon their country.