Friday Film: Iraq, Israel, and Rock ‘n’ Roll
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Courtesy of Ruth Diskin Films
An intergenerational connection through music is at the heart of “Iraq n’ Roll,” a new Israeli documentary by Gili Gaon, which screened this year at the Jerusalem International Film Festival and is out on DVD next month.
In the 1950s, brothers Saleh and Daoud Al-Kuwaity made aliyah to Israel. They arrived after an illustrious career as creators of Iraqi national music, beloved by myriads of fans as well as King Faisall II, with whom they used to lunch. They hoped to continue playing their music in Israel, but instead found themselves facing discrimination and poverty.
In Israel’s early years the European cultural canon was honored, while the Al-Kuwaitys’ Arabic music was unwelcome. The brothers fed their large families by selling eggs, continuing to play only on weekends in marginal venues, and at weddings and bar-mitzvahs. Feeling that their music received no support or recognition, let alone income, they forbade their children from embarking on musical careers. “Go get a profession” they said.
Today, however, things are different. There is a street in Tel Aviv named after the Al-Kuwaitys, and Daoud’s grandson, Dudu Tassa, a young Israeli rock musicians, is trying to revive his family’s musical heritage.
The documentary introduces us to the ebullient, charismatic Tassa and his family, all of whom maintained their connections to Iraqi song and music. Tassa goes to learn Arabic harmony from his family and from other senior Iraqi musicians in Israel. Learning to perform Arabic music is not easy for him, however, even though he grew up listening to it. “Do not sing with your throat,” his uncle instructs him. “Arab music appeals not to the head but to the heart. Sing to my feelings.” And Dudu does.
In the end, Tassa puts on a show called “Iraq n’ Roll,” in which he collaborates with traditional Iraqi performers and combines rock beats with the oud and ornamented melismatic vocals. As a kind of return of the repressed, Tassa invites his mother, a daughter of Daoud Al-Kuwaity, who insisted that she become a bank clerk, to join him on stage.
In the last scene of the movie, a beautiful older woman comes on stage, hugs her son, and for the first time in her life, sings her father’s song to a large and enthusiastic audience. “Iraq n’ Roll” is a moving story of family and music that weaves together a sad story of the past and a celebratory tale of cultural reclamation.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
