Iraq's Mosul holds traditional concert to revive war-torn areas

Baghdad, March 26 (IANS) Iraq's northern city of Mosul, once a battleground for fierce battles to dislodge militants of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group, held a four-day festival for traditional music in a bid to breathe life into the worst destroyed areas of the city.

"The Mosul Festival of Traditional Music is the first festival held in the city. It aims to revive traditional music in Mosul and introduce new talents," said Farah Qadour, a senior official of a local non-governmental organisation (NGO) participating in the festival, told Xinhua news agency on Friday.

Up to 12 Iraqi orchestras and five musical bands from Europe will give eight concerts during the festival running from March 24 to 27. The musical event is organised by several Iraqi NGOs with the support of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation, according to Qadour.

"We insisted on holding the concerts in this part of the city (western Mosul) to bring back normal life by the performance of the city artists," she said, referring to the western side of Mosul which was the most affected part of the city by the battles against the IS militants, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Four artistic musical bands represent the cultural and heritage diversity of Nineveh province," Faris Sabah, an official of a local NGO, told Xinhua.

The western side of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, witnessed the fiercest battles as Iraqi forces pushed IS militants into the strip of land along the bank of the Tigris river. Desperate militants increasingly resorted to suicide attacks and showed stiff resistance in the narrow alleys of densely-populated neighbourhoods.

A large part of Nineveh came under IS control in June 2014, when government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to control parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.

In July 2017, Iraq formally declared that Mosul, the country's second largest city, was liberated from the IS after nearly nine months of fierce fighting to dislodge the militants from their last major stronghold in the country.