A Concert for Peace in Babylon

On August 8th talented young Iraqi musicians performed for a large audience at our Concert for Peace in the ancient city of Babylon, sponsored by the Iraqi Ministry of Culture.

The “Narutu” concert was held at the ancient Roman amphitheatre – one of Babylon’s archeological sites – and drew a large and enthusiastic audience.
The concert is part of our long-term peace-building and social cohesion programme in the Nineveh Plane which was recently liberated from Daesh; the programme is implemented by the dedicated young men and women of our conflict prevention teams.

With sponsorship from the Iraqi Ministry of Culture, the concert was a celebration of Babylon, which was recently included in the UNESCO list of Global Heritage Sites, thanks in part to the efforts of the young Iraqi men and women activists who make up the “Save the Iraqi Heritage”coalition, which we have supported since its foundation.

The performers were the numerous young talented musicians from Baghdad, Nineveh Plane and from the whole country, including our old friends, the “Mshakht” collective lead by Luca Chiavinato, a group which was founded during our recent music workshops in the Youth Centres we established in Iraq.

“Mshakht”, is the first musical collective comprising young Iraqi musicians from all the country’s regions and communities, and was formed in 2016 with the Ya Basta – Caminantes Association; it has become a successful orchestra which performs across the country to a large fan-base, and has published a CD called “Walking Sounds”.

The event featured the Iraqi Minister for Culture and was covered by many national TV networks.

This was an outstanding opportunity to show, once again, how art, culture and music can help build peace by fostering mutual understanding between communities and bringing serenity back to Iraq.

The event was organised as part of our massive peace-building and social cohesion programme in the Nineveh Plane, which is still dealing with conflict between communities following Daesh’s long occupation. The programme – “Maan lil-Salam – Social Cohesion through Sociocultural and Educational Activities for Youth” is funded by BMZ through Maltezer International.