Young Iraqis re-encounter their Jewish compatriots
After seven decades of alienation, Iraqi Jews use culture to build bridges with their non-Jewish countrymen and vice versa.
Through Baghdadi folk songs and lullabies, British-born musician Carol Isaacs sailed with dozens of Iraqis and Britons from London all the way to her motherland in Mesopotamia.
“The Wolf of Baghdad,” held at the SOAS University Jewish Music Institute on Feb. 18, is the artist’s own audio-visual journey to revive Iraq’s vanishing Jewish community that formed one-third of Baghdad’s population in the 1940s.
London-based Iraqi-British Munder al-Khudairi, a marketing and advertising professional, attended the event along with many other Iraqis of different backgrounds to explore the tragedies of a lost homeland.
“Some of my family members left Iraq in the same manner, leaving their wealth and history behind,” said Khudairi, adding, “I relate to their struggle. Iraq is a refugee manufacturer.”
