美国国家公共电台 NPR A Story Of Crisis And Resilience, Told Through Music

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A Story Of Crisis And Resilience, Told Through Music 

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0005:00repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser¹ to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: 

An American named Alex Ebsary was visiting a refugee camp in the Kurdistan region of Iraq a few years ago, when he heard a young man playing the saz. The saz is a traditional string instrument that usually has six or seven strings². This saz had only two strings.

ALEX EBSARY: And I said something like, you know, your playing is beautiful. And he said yes, but if I had all the strings, I'd make you cry.

MARTIN: Ebsary was moved by that encounter. And last month, he went back to that region with a small team, this time on a mission to record the music and the stories of refugees. It's a project they're calling Music in Exile.

EBSARY: They can be anyone from somebody who knows how to sing a few songs to professionals. We've recorded several professionals.

MARTIN: Through a friend, Alex Ebsary heard about Barakat Ali, a Yazidi musician. Yazidis are an ethnic³ minority group that's been targeted by ISIS and subject to brutal⁴ treatment. Ali joined Alex Ebsary on the line for an interview with us from Dohuk. The city isn't far from the village where he and his family have been living since ISIS forced them from their home near Sinjar Mountain in 2014. You'll notice he calls Sinjar Mountain Shingal.

BARAKAT ALI: I was living at the north side of the mountain. So that when they invaded south side, we saw the other people - they're running from that side. And we asked them, why you running? They said, there's a group of terrorists. They called ISIS. They came with many heavy weapons, many armed trucks. So they attacked us. We couldn't stand against them, so we just run.

MARTIN: Barakat and his family had a choice - either go to Sinjar Mountain to hide in the caves or go to the Kurdistan region of Iraq. They chose Kurdistan, which ended up saving their lives because Sinjar Mountain became the site of a massacre⁵ soon after. Barakat Ali now lives in Bebani (ph). It's a town not far from Mosul. He lives there with his family and his brothers' families in an unfinished building - no windows, no doors. They rely on donations for food.

Did you take your instrument with you when you left your home?

ALI: Oh, no, I'm sorry I didn't take them. I had three piece of this instrument we call it the saz. I left all of them back in home, so ISIS broke them because they know that was a part of our culture. They want to wipe out everything.

MARTIN: Have you been able to find instruments there to play?

ALI: Yes. One friend bought this for me because he knows I don't have a fund to support myself to buy this instrument for myself. So he bought it and presented it to me as a gift.

MARTIN: Alex and his team recorded two songs of yours. I want to play a little bit of - of one of them, and then we'll talk after that. You wrote this one, I understand, for children who've been captured by ISIS.

ALI: Yes, it's for kidnapped and children.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

ALI: (Singing in foreign language).

MARTIN: There's a lot of pain in that song.

ALI: Yes.

MARTIN: Can you tell me what it's called?

ALI: It's a dedication⁶ for the kidnapped are still in the captivaries (ph) with the ISIS and for the children who died thirsty and hungry in Shingal Mountain.

MARTIN: How has your music, how you think about your instrument and singing and the act of making music - how has that changed for you over the past couple of years?

ALI: It's sadness, you know. Sometimes I feel very sad about what happened to Yazidis. So I'm just playing this music and singing to forget myself - to not be so worried and cry about these things.

MARTIN: Barakat Ali has applied⁷ to the U.N. office of migration⁸. He's hoping to immigrate⁹ to the United States. His music is part of a project founded by Alex Ebsary and journalist Sasha Ingber. It's called Music in Exile. And if you want to know more, you can check out a link on our website npr.org.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

ALI: (Singing in Foreign Language).