NPR’s Ari Shapiro speaks with musician and composer Ameen Mokdad, about his album The Curve, which he composed whereas dwelling below ISIS occupation in Mosul, Iraq.
(SOUNDBITE OF CUATRO PUNTOS AND AMEEN MOKDAD’S “FROM HER, SCENE NO. 203”)
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
On the album “The Curve,” musician Ameen Mokdad performs numerous devices, besides on one observe, there’s percussion within the background, sounds he didn’t make. The track known as “A Day In The Prince Kingdom.” The rhythmic patterns within the background do not come from any form of a drum. You might be about to listen to the machine gunfire and bombs that have been falling exterior of his home in Mosul, Iraq, the place he composed this music below ISIS occupation.
(SOUNDBITE OF CUATRO PUNTOS AND AMEEN MOKDAD’S “A DAY IN THE PRINCE KINGDOM”)
AMEEN MOKDAD: It is town sound throughout the warfare. We all know nothing about it. We can not exit or look from the window. We simply hear that. And you must assume who’s killing whom.
SHAPIRO: Yeah. There’s very clear gunfire, and there are booms of, presumably, airstrikes. Why did you wish to embrace this together with the music that you just had composed?
MOKDAD: As a result of that is what we needed to stay with. And each single individual below warfare would stay with that. And it is not OK. And typically we neglect it, but it surely leaves wounds in our reminiscence.
(SOUNDBITE OF CUATRO PUNTOS AND AMEEN MOKDAD’S “A DAY IN THE PRINCE KINGDOM”)
SHAPIRO: Ameen Mokdad taught himself to play the violin and plenty of different devices after that. When ISIS took over town of Mosul in 2014, he needed to play in secret. Despite the fact that he may have been killed for it, he stored making recordings and importing his music to the web for the world to listen to.
(SOUNDBITE OF CUATRO PUNTOS AND AMEEN MOKDAD’S “TEARS OF FLOWERS”)
MOKDAD: I needed to ship an enormous assertion additionally to all people who judged Muslim individuals and stated, all Muslims are terrorists; simply kill all of them, as a result of that was an enormous public opinion, even within the nation, in Iraq, you recognize? Yeah, they simply supported – simply kill all people. And I used to be like, no, there’s harmless individuals.
(SOUNDBITE OF CUATRO PUNTOS AND AMEEN MOKDAD’S “YOQAAL”)
SHAPIRO: Someday, ISIS discovered him. They interrogated him for hours, searched his home, and located his stash of musical devices. ISIS smashed each one in every of them.
MOKDAD: Two violins, one cello, one guitar and one – one thing referred to as zippy zither.
SHAPIRO: And what did these devices imply to you? What was it like seeing them taken away from you?
MOKDAD: Effectively, each single instrument I had began with. I imply, I used to be a pupil, and the economic system scenario actually unhealthy, and I needed to save each single penny. It wasn’t a flowery instrument, but it surely’s my instrument, like, my infants. Like, as an illustration, the cello has a reputation. It was Peter. So they simply…
SHAPIRO: Peter was the title of your cello.
MOKDAD: Yeah, yeah.
SHAPIRO: Can we hear a bit of Peter the cello? Do you’ve got these recordings?
MOKDAD: I do. I do.
SHAPIRO: Yeah.
MOKDAD: All of the cello components in my 25 compositions heard on “The Curve”…
SHAPIRO: Yeah.
MOKDAD: …Is all recorded with this.
SHAPIRO: OK, let’s hearken to a bit of Peter the cello.
MOKDAD: Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SHAPIRO: With out his beloved musical devices, Ameen Mokdad slipped right into a deep despair. So someday his cousin stated, why do not you make an instrument?
MOKDAD: And I went to the market, and I purchased sheets of wooden. However we confronted an issue, and a few materials just like the strings have been an enormous drawback as a result of…
SHAPIRO: What did you make the strings out of?
MOKDAD: So there’s this particular string they use in Mosul, one of many cities who create cleaning soap. In order that they use this string to chop the cleaning soap.
SHAPIRO: Oh. Is it, like, a steel wire or…
MOKDAD: Yeah.
SHAPIRO: OK. So that you get the wooden. You get the string. And you’ve got by no means constructed a musical instrument earlier than.
MOKDAD: No, no.
SHAPIRO: However you construct this…
MOKDAD: Sure.
SHAPIRO: …Simply out of your creativeness.
MOKDAD: However once we had the instrument, we have been like, oh, this can be a huge drawback. We actually felt we made a mistake, identical to having a child within the improper time, within the warfare.
SHAPIRO: Yeah.
MOKDAD: Like, you’re…
SHAPIRO: How will you retain it protected?
MOKDAD: Precisely. You might be barely surviving your life. And never solely that. This child is a curse as a result of in the event that they got here and discover this instrument on this home and if that they had of their mind to forgive you in your previous sins…
SHAPIRO: They see you have executed it once more.
MOKDAD: Once more.
SHAPIRO: However you did not destroy the instrument.
MOKDAD: No, no, no, no, no.
SHAPIRO: It has 44 strings. He plucks it on his lap.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SHAPIRO: He wanted to provide the instrument a reputation. Mosul was a metropolis of gates, doorways that led to the traditional metropolis of Nineveh. ISIS bulldozed these archaeological treasures.
MOKDAD: So one of many doorways referred to as Attar (ph) – and it is the thunder god. So it is like, they needed to destroy the door and the title and the historical past of it. Why do not we simply piss them off and name this instrument Attar?
SHAPIRO: So it lives on.
MOKDAD: Precisely.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SHAPIRO: And also you filmed your self enjoying this instrument on the ruins.
MOKDAD: Of Attar.
SHAPIRO: Was this after ISIS was pushed out of Mosul?
MOKDAD: Yeah, it was after liberation.
SHAPIRO: The place is that instrument now?
MOKDAD: In Baghdad.
SHAPIRO: It is in Baghdad.
MOKDAD: Yeah. I needed to convey it right here.
SHAPIRO: Right here that means america. After composing a whole album shut in his home below ISIS occupation, Ameen Mokdad is now free to journey the world. After we spoke, he had simply spent a number of months composing and performing music across the U.S.
(SOUNDBITE OF CUATRO PUNTOS AND AMEEN MOKDAD’S “FROM HER, SCENE NO. 203”)
SHAPIRO: I feel many individuals view music particularly and artwork typically as a pleasure, a comfort, a luxurious, a pastime. For you, it’s so clearly one thing totally different from that, one thing greater than that. What’s it for you?
MOKDAD: It is a want. It is positively a necessity. I can not think about any wholesome life with out artwork. You would stay with out nutritional vitamins, however you should have issues. I am not saying you can not stay with out music or artwork. You would stay, to be trustworthy. However it’s not a wholesome life. So if I determine to stay, I wish to stay a wholesome life. So music and artwork is a necessity for me. It is one thing I might die for.
(SOUNDBITE OF CUATRO PUNTOS AND AMEEN MOKDAD’S “FROM HER, SCENE NO. 203”)
SHAPIRO: Earlier this yr, Ameen Mokdad obtained some excellent news. Wesleyan College accepted him to the college’s grasp’s program with a full scholarship.
MOKDAD: Like, full tuition. I used to be like, wait a minute. What? I am very excited, although, very excited.
SHAPIRO: And maybe as an indication of how important music is to Ameen Mokdad, he confirmed up in our studio with a violin. And once I requested whether or not he needed to play it for us, he stated, in fact.
(SOUNDBITE OF AMEEN MOKDAD’S “TRAIN”)
SHAPIRO: He advised us he has composed a brand new album throughout his time within the U.S. This track from it’s referred to as “Practice.”
MOKDAD: I at all times really feel my life is a practice. You’ve got stations to cease at. There isn’t any means again. You at all times must go to the entrance.
SHAPIRO: Effectively, Ameen Mokdad, it has been such a pleasure speaking to you.
MOKDAD: It is a huge honor.
SHAPIRO: Thanks.
MOKDAD: Thanks.
SHAPIRO: The album that he composed below ISIS occupation known as “The Curve.” He recorded it with the ensemble Cuatro Puntos. And his latest album is titled “Bicycle Baghdad.”
(SOUNDBITE OF AMEEN MOKDAD’S “TRAIN”)
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