The pulse of Baghdad regains its rhythms

by **Rocky** Mon 27 Aug 2018, 2:14 am

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The pulse of Baghdad regains its rhythms

by Rocky Mon 27 Aug 2018, 2:14 am

The pulse of Baghdad regains its rhythms

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27/8/2018 12:00 am

[rtl]Translation and preparation: Anis al - Saffar *
Today was Thursday and the hour is approaching midnight, but the streets are still crowded with cars and traffic. There were people returning home after an evening dinner with relatives and friends, others to inspire about to begin.
At the Ibrahim Pasha Club, which was re-opened recently, the concert was the first, and the Syrian singer with blonde hair flowing down to her waist and high-heeled heel is playing with the latest Arabic songs accompanied by a talented Iraqi musician who plays the saxophone sometimes and the piano sometimes and the oud at other times. When she moved to the old Iraqi favorite songs, most of the men present stood up from their tables and merged into the traditional Arab-style Dabkeh dance, which included rhythmic rhythmic rhythms on the ground.
Fifteen years after the occupation of Iraq led by the United States, those years that left the country prey to the whirlwind of rebellion and terrorism and dysfunction and war, Baghdad is getting up and regain some of the pulse of her life first.
The insurgency is still a sinister remnant under the ashes, dysfunctional people who have seen, and Iraqis angry at the inability of those responsible for their basic needs, such as electricity and water, spent the summer demonstrating and protesting in many parts of the country. There is no doubt that the hope of waiting for a brighter future in a city whose people have been ravaged by wars has been crushed time after time in the past.
However, Baghdad, for the first time as far as it can go by memory, is not at war. There may be some blasts here or there, and kidnappings are still a problem, but the deadly suicide bombings that have disrupted life have finally been lifted since the defeat of last year's "daunting" terrorists, and the city breathed in a breath of relief.
On the other hand, the easing of some restrictions by the parliament last year helped to flourish the atmosphere of recreation and entertainment and increased cafes, clubs and entertainment venues are widespread, everywhere you see huge markets and where the role of cinema showing the latest movies. Along the banks of the river, restaurants are organized and on stage the stage plays and cafes are held comedy nights.
On Friday, poets and artists meet to review their work in Ottoman-era gardens around Mutanabbi Street, named after a famous Iraqi poet who lived in the 10th century when Baghdad was the kiss of the civilized world.
Iraqis say the road to Baghdad is still long if it really wants to restore its former glory as the capital of culture and the will to live. Yet there is broad consensus that Baghdad has not enjoyed the freedom and fun it has enjoyed today for 40 years, To the absolute power and then dragged Iraq into a series of devastating wars.
"All Iraqis have come to the conclusion that one has to get the most pleasure before he dies," says theater director Alaa Qahtan from his council at Coffee and Book Café, a new coffee shop in Baghdad.
Alaa says that stopping the bombings is not the only reason for this new feeling of freedom. Political parties with armed wings, which reached the highest positions after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, have gained more strength today and achieved great success in last spring's elections, meaning that they will have a role in any government emerging in the future. This great rise away from interfering in the minutes of people's lives as they have done in the past to prove their authority.
"The parties have put those things behind their backs in the middle of their aspiration to take on a bigger role and are no longer filled with your food and your dress, so I feel more freedom in my plays and my overall behavior in my life," he said.
Then he told us how a scene in one of his plays showed a woman dancing and covering her face with a veil that caused him to be summoned by a government body to justify the situation, worried that it was meant to insult Islam. But the case against him was dropped as soon as he made it clear to them that he meant only to comment on the perspective of turning women into something without sense or value.
But there is no guarantee that the situation will continue, says Ahmed Saadawi, who was sitting at a nearby table discussing the cover of the new edition of his novel "Frankenstein in Baghdad", which was set at the height of the fever of sectarian killing a decade ago when it was a flame Hate and pain melt Baghdad. That novel has taken its place in the short list of the International Booker Prize for Men.
"It's all up to the politicians who have disappointed our hopes over and over again, but we hope they have learned a lesson from the tragedies that have happened, as the Sunnis, the Shiites or the Kurds are no longer able to bear new conflicts," al-Saadawi said .
The love of life. Says that the huge sectarian wave that followed the invasion of Iraq in 2003, when Sunnis and Shiites were all sectarian identities, was just a step away from the road, but Iraqis quickly returned to their true identity. "There is something in the Iraqi personality that goes back thousands of years. Historians see that Iraqis have invented sugary drinks for almost 7,000 years. This means that the love of joy is rooted in Iraqi culture, and Iraqis are happy and happy."
Many women also feel the benefits of this more liberal environment. Early that night, in an al-Shawarma restaurant in a Baghdad neighborhood, an Iraqi singer sings for the majority of women, some covering their hair and some of them sullen, some of them forming only women's rings. On the rhythm of the songs these women click the ground with their feet and swaying and they seem to want to dance and not to do.
Most Iraqis do not eat alcohol, so cafes are the only social destination where families can sit with their men and women. Maryam Sultan, who works in a laboratory and holds a master's degree in medical chemistry, says the families have been preventing their daughters from going out on their own because of the dangers of the street. While she is now attending a group of her friends at Al Faisaliah Café, which opened last year and is frequented by clients of both sexes, to watch nightly comedy shows and concerts.
"People are becoming freer in their social behavior."
Those who complain narrowly in the enclave prevent them from going to coffee shops and Abi Nawas Casinos, the Jadriya bridge over the Tigris is their refuge, which provides them with an improvised place to sit their fun seats.
It is said that the bridge is the coldest point in the city of Baghdad because the cool air flows to it after wiping the face of the river, so families come to him also, especially in the summer months when the temperature exceeds 38 degrees Celsius until midnight.
"The atmosphere in the house is a boon, so we come here where many people come to entertain themselves," says Imad Salman, 50, who was standing with his wife and three children on the Jadriya bridge.
During this time, Thursday night was over and Friday morning , The clock is about to be announced in the morning.
As of mid-July, police banned drinking alcohol in open public places, making the bridge a target for the raid. As Imad tells us, a police patrol came in from afar. Someone shouted from somewhere on the bridge, not far from us: "Run away, run away ... the police came." Everyone jumped into their cars and drove away.
Half an hour later, they returned. Then the police returned and dispersed the people again.
By that time it was three o'clock in the morning and we had to finish our night. * Liz Slay / The Washington Post [/rtl]

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The pulse of Baghdad regains its rhythms

The pulse of Baghdad regains its rhythms

The pulse of Baghdad regains its rhythms

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