“It creates community. And what we’ve had here is a community between Iraqis and Kurds, from many different places, and Americans,” he says.
“Music holds the whole world together.”
Clark has come to the Kurdistan Region to run a project for the YES Academy – an American music school, which brought hip-hop and dance classes to Erbil in early July.
Now the academy is back, this time focusing on orchestral and classical music. Sixty-five musicians from Baghdad, Mosul, Kirkuk, and across the Kurdistan Region took part.
Clark, a professional conductor who leads two orchestras in Jefferson City, Missouri, arrived in Erbil with four other US-based musicians. YES Academy teamed them up with local artists.
The classes, which began at the Institute of Fine Arts in Erbil on August 14, culminated with a final performance on Monday, which saw American and local musicians take to the stage together.
“I came for the fourth time this year to work with the Kurdish students in composition and this year we made 11-12 pieces, and just now performed eight of them for the audience in the final concert,” Clark told Rudaw English.
In a powerful cultural exchange, compositions written by young Kurdish and Iraqi musicians were performed by their American instructors.
Course instructor John Cramer (L) performed compositions written by local students. Photo: A.C. Robinson / Rudaw
“Music is the soul of life,” 14-year-old pianist Taha Abdulsalam from Baghdad told Rudaw. “Everyone should learn music.”
Abdulsalam was at the concert with his mother, who said she supports his love of music and had even provided him with a private piano teacher.
“I’ve been playing piano for two years,” Abdulsalam said. “I’m so joyful to be here in YES Academy. I want to continue to be a professional pianist.”
John Cramer, a violinist and composer from Houston, Texas, made his first visit to the Kurdistan Region to take part in the project.
“It’s been an amazing opportunity to see such talent and vigor and enthusiasm,” he said. “Also they were teaching me about their musical traditions so it was an even exchange in terms of knowledge.”
YES Academy unites different communities around a common love of music. Photo: A.C. Robinson / Rudaw
“They really touched my heart and I’m sad I have to leave, but I hope to come back and work with these students again and others as well,” Cramer added.
He hopes more Americans will also visit the Region.
“In spite of the tremendous hardships and challenges here – and the heat – the warmth and hospitality and just the real humanity and decency of this proud and rich heritage has really overwhelmed me,” he said.
‘Music is peace’
Khalid al-Rawi is a 27-year-old music teacher from Mosul. While the city was under ISIS control, Rawi bravely continued his music studies in secret. Since the city’s liberation, he has become the first music teacher to resume classes.
“After liberation, we formed a band and started to play music in the streets of Mosul and other cities like Erbil and Baghdad,” he said. “We then got a chance to share our music in Belgium.”
Rawi now teaches 200 children the basics of music and instruments at al-Awael Primary School in Mosul.
Khalid al-Rawi (L) plays the oud, but loves mixing eastern and western music styles. Photo: A.C. Robinson / Rudaw
“At first I was afraid whether the kids would love the message of music or not, but they loved it so much and now I’m connected with other parents asking me to teach their children,” he said.
Before ISIS, some in Mosul’s community considered music haram – or forbidden. The popularity of his classes marks an important shift in the culture.
“Music is peace for all the world,” Rawi said. “Every place you play music, people will enjoy it and be happy.”
Monday’s concert featured one of Rawi’s own compositions called ‘Wave’.
“You can say it represents our situation, how sometimes life is hard and sometimes it is quiet,” he explained.
YES Academy, the brainchild of US professional pianist John Fergusun, has been traveling to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region teaching different genres of music since 2007, with two programs in 2018 focusing on hip hop and classical.
It has organized classes in nine countries with participants from 16 nations across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. All instructors are music professionals from the United States.
