Chris Cantell Discusses Entertainment: Iraqis return to making music at home Notme

With no other method for entertaining and bored by the television, Iraqi youngsters are now concentrating on taking music lessons at home. Many educated families insist on education and want their children to learn a musical instrument.But most of the top musicians from Iraq have left the country to neighbouring countries such as Syria and Jordan, leaving instrument shops behind with not customers, because of extreme religious trends that reject art and artists. "Artists and local troupes have been warned to quit their professions and some have been beaten up by people affiliated to religious and extreme Islamic parties," said Raghid, owner of an instrument shop in Baghdad's downtown Karrada district.Fortunately for people like Raghid, amateurs like students, or simply people who love Western music, are now buying instruments, in order to entertain themselves for no cinema or theatres work in the country.The mainly customers are the young people, as Abbas Fadhel, 28, who recently graduated from Baghdad's Higher Music Institution says that students are torn between getting out and risking travelling 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.The new trend of playing music at home is very hopeful for music teachers and instrument shop owners, helping them to pass thru the hard life in Iraq.

related story: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20070925/ten-entertainment-iraq-music-1dc2b55_1.html

by Notme dfsfs for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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