Songs of love, hope: Iraqi musician wants to break down barriers through heartfelt lyrics

February 28, 2003

BY NIRAJ WARIKOO
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Mention Iraq, and what comes to mind for many Americans are images of war, perhaps terrorism, or the face of a stern leader with a dark mustache.

One of the most popular crooners in the Arab world, Kazem Al Sahir, wants to change those perceptions.

For the past month, he has been performing across the United States, reaching out to American audiences at the same time the U.S. mobilizes for war with his native land.

On Saturday, Kazem is scheduled to sing at Masonic Temple in Detroit. The performance will have a distinctly hometown feel because metro Detroit is home to one of the largest concentrations of Iraqi Americans in the country.

It's expected to be a welcome respite for a community eager to forget about strife during these tense times. And it may offer other Americans a different view of Iraq.

"I have a special mission in mind," Kazem said softly Wednesday evening from his hotel room in New York City, "to remind people that Iraqis are good. They're artists, philosophers, poets, they're singers, writers. They're a creative people, a peace-loving people."

It's a message he hopes to get across with his music, steeped in classical Arab tradition, but edged with a pop sound that's made him a Middle Eastern star. Fans say he's as smooth as Frank Sinatra, as popular as Elvis Presley, and has seen drama that Eminem could only imagine.

Kazem's songs are about exile, a deep yearning for the innocence of past years. But most of all, they're about love. He uses metaphors with multiple meanings, allowing listeners to interpret what his songs are about.

"Baghdad" is one of those songs. And Kazem said it has struck an emotional response from fans on his tour. It's about a man who's describing the love of his life to an envious girlfriend. "They say you have a new girl,"the woman says to the man. "They say she's lovely, that she eats with you, spends the night with you, and that you're in love with her."

"Yes," replies the man. "She gives me many things, and when I see her, she knows exactly what's in my heart. If she would just touch my forehead, I would forget everything else."

At the end of the song, he reveals her name: Baghdad, Iraq's capital.

Kazem has been away from Iraq for six years and has a home in Toronto. But the memories linger, as they do for the more than 4 million-plus Iraqi expatriates throughout the world.

In a way, Kazem has become sort of a representative for them, a symbol of hope that Iraq might prosper again. At times, that has brought controversy, as Kazem has struggled to please all of Iraq's diverse factions, religions and tastes.

Locally, some Iraqi Christians, or Chaldeans, say they think he's too Islamic. Some conservative Muslims say he's not Muslim enough. And some traditionalists say he has sold out to pop.

But it's precisely because Kazem straddles so many worlds that he has become so popular.

"He's a nonpolitical person," said Wally Jadan, owner of the Southfield-based Radio and TV Orient, which is sponsoring the nationwide tour.

"His fans come from all over the Arab world, and even Arab Americans here who don't know Arabic love his music."

Kazem's tour started in Las Vegas earlier this month and will end in San Diego on March 8. Some of his friends told him not to tour during such a turbulent time. But so far, Kazem said he has had no problems.

Kazem was born in a village in northern Iraq, the youngest of seven brothers. At age 10, he sold his bicycle to buy a guitar. Two years later, he composed his first song, a romantic poem for a girl he doted on.

Kazem's first big hit in the Arab world was called "Ladghat El Hayya," or "The Snake Bite," a song written in 1987 near the end of the Iraq-Iran war. The song, about a man paralyzed with fear, was banned. But that only made it more popular, launching an artist who went on to sell more than 10 million records.

The 1991 Persian Gulf War halted his career, as life in Iraq slowly deteriorated. He left to expand his career in the Arab and Western worlds. But despite his distance, the suffering of his people weighed heavily on his mind.

"Many of my friends died because their hearts were broken," Kazem said. "I had 30-year-old friends with heart attacks, from the anger, the desperation, having their souls cut out. They lost their desire for the future. They lost hope."

Today, Kazem strives to also reach a Western audience, recently recording a duet with British singer Sarah Brightman.

But asked to describe his politics, Kazem demurred.

"I'm a man of music," Kazem said. "So many people talk about politics, it's everywhere you go, on the news. I'm here to show another side." Kazem will be at the Masonic Temple Theater in Detroit Saturday night. For tickets, call any Ticketmaster outlet or 248-569-2020.