Thi-Qar sings for first time in five years

THI-QAR / IraqiNews.com: The province of Thi-Qar a few days ago hosted the first concert after five years of security deteriorations that forced music bands to avoid public places out of fear of the neo-extremist ideologies that haunted a city of multiple cultures and groups. Due to security conditions in the country in general, the number of bands in Thi-Qar diminished from 14 before the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq to only three at present. “Our band could not give a concert since 2003. However, after the security campaigns by the state and the re-emergence of a culture of laws once again, things have started to change and the city has opened itself up to artistic trends,” Saleh Kridi, a musician in the al-Anwar al-Satiea (Bright Lights) band, told IraqiNews.com. Ali Abad Eid, the chairman of the artists syndicate in Thi-Qar, said he and over 15 members of the syndicate have formed a band called Larissa, named after an archeological city. “Our objective behind delivering the first concert in the province after 2003 is to give an impetus to the artistic movement and revive the authentic traditional music that has always been characterizing Thi-Qar,” Eid said. Last Thursday morning has seen the launching of the 1st Nassiriya festival to resuscitate a floundering cultural activity in the area. The two-day event envisages a singing concert by Ali Jouda with the band Larissa as well as galleries of photography and surrealist art. “The festival is held by the Italian cultural attaché’s office in the city,” Eid pointed out in statements to IraqiNews.com. Most Iraqi singers, composers and lyricists are originally coming from the city of al-Nassiriya, a renowned milestone in the world of singing and music in Iraq. Thi-Qar, 380 km south of Baghad, has an area of 12,900 square kilometers (4,980.7 sq mi). In 2003 the estimated population of the governorate was 1,454,200 people. Thi-Qar was the second Iraqi province where security responsibilities were transferred from the Multi-National Force (MNF) to the Iraqis. The province’s capital is the city of al-Nassiriya. It also includes the ancient Sumerian ruins of Ur, Eridu, Lagash and Ngirsu. Before 1976 the province was known as al-Muntafiq. Singer Raad al-Amir told IraqiNews.com that many bands “were lost under the pressure of threats by extremists from either side who differed on everything save antagonizing and murdering the artists”. “We have lost singers who, under death threats, had to switch to performing religious hymns to make both ends meet and even some bands had to rent out their instruments and loud speakers for religious occasions and celebrations,” Amir said. AmR (S)/SR 1