It was two weeks ago when the first American tanks roared into this city. The rattle of their metal treads followed days of bombing, when the wail of sirens, the whistle and boom of missiles became the sounds of this city.
And once again in the long and violent history of Baghdad, the music was stilled. When people felt safe enough to venture outside they found, to their horror, that many of their cultural jewels, spared the ravages of American weapons, had been systematically looted and vandalized. In the schools of music, violins and pianos were left in splinters. Even the small pink desks of the kindergarten music class were broken. Coming up, a conversation with three of Iraq’s top classical musicians, and from the city of 1,001 nights, live music.
Guests:
Hashim Sharaf Director of the Iraqi National Symphony/Director of the School of Music and Ballet
Majid Al Gazali, principal second violin of the Iraqi Symphony Orchestra
Munther Hafidh, Composer/Musicologist
Ibrahim Kadem former student at the Baghdad College of fine arts.