At National Public Radio, Rachel Martin reported recently on Music in Exile, an initiative that is providing a certain comfort to displaced musicians and other refugees.
“Alex Ebsary, a member of the Music in Exile team, explains that its mandate is straightforward: ‘What we do is go around, either to refugee camps or to places that we know there will be refugees or internally displaced Iraqis, and try to find musicians,’ he says. ‘They can be anyone, from somebody who knows how to sing a few songs to professionals.’
“One of the musicians featured in the project is Barakat Ali, a Yazidi man who fled from ISIS attacks on his home of Khana Sor. He says the past few years have changed the way he approaches music.
” ‘Sometimes, I feel very sad about what happened to Yazidis,’ he says. ‘So I’m just playing this music and singing to forget myself, to not be so worried and cry about these things. And sometimes I’m crying while singing.’ …
“Hear the full interview at the audio link,” here.
According to Wikipedia, “Yazidism is linked to ancient Mesopotamian religions and combines aspects of Zoroastrianism, Islam, Christianity and Judaism.”
I wish I could learn about these unfamiliar cultures through less tragic events, but I do like to learn something new. A colleague at my old job enlightened me about his Assyrian relatives, who were suffering the same dangers as the Yazidis at about the same time period, 2015.
Assyrians are mainly Christian (Wikipedia again) and speak a modern version of Aramaic. Amazing! Now I am completely confused by Byron’s energizing lines, “The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold …”
History is written by the victors.
Photo: Sasha Ingber
Barakat Ali is a Yazidi refugee and musician who has contributed to the recording project Music in Exile.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
Interesting. Thanks for posting. I’ll check out the link to the NPR broadcast. Happy New Year!
It’s interesting to me to think that music moves with the migrants yet stays in the old place. It’s as if music were the atmosphere that envelops the world.
Thanks for posting. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to you, too. Can’t wait to see you! … And thanks so much for reading the blog all this time.
The idea that people find comfort and an outlet for their grief through music makes so much sense to me!
I am not a musician, but I like to sing. Lately, I’ve been singing songs from my childhood to my grandchildren, hoping to pass down some old chestnuts that you never hear anymore.