NASIRIYA, Iraq - Jasim al-Asmer (not his real name) is a singer without a stage. As he serves customers in his café, his dreamy manner hints at his musical calling. He moves slowly, as if maintaining a delicate internal balance, and he speaks softly, seemingly to spare his voice.
In a town renowned for its musicians, Asmer is one of the best. He is the composer of countless lyrics and melodies, many of them popularised by singers more famous than he.
The teashop where he works has become a meeting place for singers intimidated by militias.
“We still have the same spirit that we started with,” said Qassim Areydhah, a well-known local musician, describing the moment when poetic inspiration strikes.
“When one of us is working on a new lyric, he stays up all night, as if with a new bride,” he laughed. “We feel like kings then. Such moments are our life – not this café.”
Ahmed al-Ameer, another musician, recalls Asmer singing at ecstatic gatherings tinged with such “madness and splendour” that it sets the palm trees swinging.
“His parties started with beautiful melodies and left us with reddened chests the next day,” he said, referring to the custom among Shitte men to rhythmically beat their chests in a ceremonial lament.
Asmer is 60 years old but looks younger. Though the music has not deserted him, his stage has shrunk.
After [the US-led invasion in 2003], Shiite militias grew powerful in Nasiriya. Their clerics spoke scornfully of musicians who strayed from religious themes, and whose performances were associated with the consumption of alcohol.
Threats from the militiamen forced Asmer and his friends [to sing at secret parties].
“No one knows how many singers we have because everyone from the young to the elderly sings and hums,” he said. “I grew up listening to the local wet nurse, who sang day and night. It was impossible to say whether she was happy or sad.”
Back then [before the US-led invasion], Asmer says, a good voice was in constant demand – even housewarmings were celebrated with songs or a recital from the Koran. “In either case, the person had to have a beautiful voice,” he said.
Politicians in the past tried to harness Nasiriya’s music. Nowadays, militiamen harass its musicians.
However, he says it is hard to gauge the severity of the ban because several supposedly proscribed instruments are used in religious recitals. “Did the religion change?”
Ahmed al-Fartoissi, a cleric, maintains that there had not been any new fatwas, or edicts, against singing or musical instruments.
He says “ignorant extremists” had targeted singers, as well as other public figures, in order to make a political point. “The clerics are not responsible for the persecution of singers and lyricists,” he said.
Some singers occasionally perform at private homes, where their hosts can guarantee their safety. Very occasionally, they may attend all-night singing soirees in remote locations outside town.
Some musicians have offered their voices to commerce or faith. Asmer’s friend, Ahmed, sings at Shitte ceremonies.
Another former singer, Qassim, says his best lyrics have been plagiarised by commercial artists.
“In the past, we knew the people who used our songs – they would take our permission beforehand. Now, I see my songs stolen and broadcast on satellite TV,” he said.
Qassim says he dare not make a fuss about the plagiarism because he still fears the militiamen.
“If they find out, they will beat me and force me to compose a poem for their chief, just like they did the last time,” he said.
The musicians want Nasiriya’s government to protect them so that they can perform again in public.
The local artists’ union, affiliated to the government, was disbanded several years ago. Its former head, Ali Abd Eid, says it could not have offered protection “from anonymous criminals who use a range of methods to threaten isolated artists”.
Khadum al-Obaidy, the head of Nasiriya’s journalists’ syndicate, a government-backed body, says the singers had been the victims of broader unrest.
“We cannot talk of protecting artists or journalists through a security apparatus that was unable to impose the rule of law in the first place,” he said.
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