Resistance Songs Urge Iraqis to Rise Up Against Occupiers

By Sudarsan Raghavan

Knight-Ridder

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/7582823.htm

FALLUJAH, Iraq - At the Sound of the Revolution music shop, lots of
Arab pop stars look down from wall posters, but the hottest local one -
resistance singer Sabah Hashim - needs no promotion.

Hashim is part of a new and growing group of Iraqi singers whose anti-
Western lyrics are raw with hate. In one number in his latest
collection, Hashim urges listeners to: "Carry your weapons and kick the
heretic people out of your land. The people of Fallujah are like wolves
when they attack the enemy."

Such sentiments are especially popular in cities like Fallujah, where
resistance to U.S. troops has been heavy, and across the so-called
Sunni Triangle, the arc of territory that thrived under Saddam
Hussein’s rule. Especially for Sunnis who now feel dispossessed and
threatened by Iraq’s Shiite Muslim majority, the music expresses - and
maybe nourishes - rejection of the nine-month U.S. occupation.

"When I hear this music, it provokes me to help the resistance," said
Nudher Aboud, 36, a jobless father who bought "The Anger" recently at
the Sound of Revolution.

The store, whose name dates from its opening shortly after the Iraqi
Baath Socialist party came to power in 1969, sells about 75 copies a
week of "The Anger," said Ehab Thaya, 20, whose family owns the store.

"This shows that people still love Saddam," said Thaya.

Across town at another music store, Noori Hashim, 30, also reports
brisk sales, mostly to young men but occasionally to women.

He pulls out a video CD version of "The Anger," whose cover shows
Hashim in an Arabic headdress.

He sings against a backdrop of provocative images: an F-16 firing at a
target followed by huge, orange explosions; Iraq women mourning their
dead sons; American soldiers arresting Iraqis. In one scene, a group of
Iraqis celebrates around a destroyed U.S. tank.

Many resistance songs use heavily amped drums and guitars to generate a
pulsating rhythm that sounds like modern Arab pop. Some is more
religious. The music is rarely heard on local radio stations or in
restaurants, but often played at weddings and other celebrations in the
Sunni Triangle.

Many singers hail from Fallujah and Mosul - predominantly Sunni Muslim
towns hostile towards the U.S. presence as well as frustrated over the
lack of security, electricity and municipal services. In recent weeks,
more American soldiers have been killed in Mosul than in any other town
in Iraq.

"We will face death. We will never give up our land," sings Qassim al
Sultan, a singer from Mosul. "We will remove America from the map."

Other singers praise Saddam, under whom Sunnis dominated politics, or
of Sunni attempts to survive in an Iraq in which they are an embattled
minority.

"Today, let America and London hear that we will carry on with Saddam
and that all Iraqis love him," sings Bassim al Ali. "Saddam is our
father ... We will be his sword against the enemy."

Other songs play to Arab nationalism, and call on Arabs throughout the
Middle East to rally and expel the U.S.-led occupiers.

"Baghdad calls Arabs for militancy and martyrdom," sings Adnan Faisal.
"From Mosul to Hillah, we are Arabs and we refuse to be insulted. We
are ready for death."

Resistance songs tinged with piety put the singers and listeners on
higher moral ground and broaden the message’s appeal in a country
increasingly influenced by clergy and political Islam.

"God is the greatest," sings Hashim. "We can no longer endure heretics
in the Prophet’s land."

It’s unclear what influence this music is having on Iraqi resistance to
western occupiers.

A senior corpsman at the Fallujah headquarters of the Iraqi Civil
Defense Forces, a U.S.-trained Iraqi security group, said he thought
there were two kinds of listeners.

"Some people who listen to them care more about the problems in their
own lives, so they won’t join the resistance," he said, speaking on
condition of anonymity because he fears retaliation if it becomes
widely known that he’s working with Americans.

"For others, the cassettes provoke nationalist feelings against the
Americans," he continued. "They’re the ones who will fight."