Singing of peace in a former ISIS Shooting range
There is a group of Christians standing on a former ISIS shooting range in Iraq – they are singing a message of hope and peace.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
The words are repeated time after time. The three young women are accompanied by violin, flute and daf, the instruments the three men are playing. What other proof do we need that Christianity is alive again in the Iraqi town Qaraqosh? In a church square once used as a shooting range by ISIS fighters, Christians now sing for the glory of God. Where ISIS tried to put an end to Christian faith, Christians are singing again.
Where years ago extremists in their black clothes emptied their guns, now sounds a Christian song. Today six members of the band Melody sing one of their songs on the square of the Immaculate Church which, according to one of them, is the biggest church in the region. They sing against the background of where the bullets once hit the walls. The holes and destruction are still there left as a reminder to future generations of those black pages in Qaraqosh’s history.
Melody was founded when they were living in displacement in Erbil, having been forced to run from their home town in the Nineveh Plain in August 2014. After ISIS had captured the city of Mosul, some 25 kilometres away, they took control of the Nineveh Plain, causing massive displacement of Christians. In the towns and villages, crosses were removed, churches and monasteries damaged and often burned. For over two years the black flags of ISIS waved over the villages and towns in the Nineveh Plain.
The Iraqi worship group "Melody" stands in a former ISIS shooting range
Sam, Farid and Fady started the band in 2017. “We began meeting there and playing,” says Sam, leader of the band. Having nothing to do, having lost everything, music turned out to be “food for the soul,” he says. “Playing music gave us energy, we were able to feel alive again. Doing nothing in Erbil, we tried to revive ourselves through music and revive others as well.”
Back in Qaraqosh, after the liberation and the restoration of houses, they recruited some female singers. “After just making music, we added singing,” the 31-year-old bandleader says. Now they have seven band members.
Hearing them sing at this historical place, where ISIS thought they could end the Christian worship that has been performed here for ages, makes me think of what the prophet Isaiah wrote in chapter 58: “Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.” (Isaiah 58:12 NIV)
Sam: “Through this we were able to rise above the destruction and revive our existential necessities of life that were inexistent; through music we were able to restore hope.” In Qaraqosh, not only walls of houses and churches are rebuilt. This group rebuilds hope, rebuilds lives.
One day Melody even went to perform in the city of Mosul, the city where ISIS proclaimed the Caliphate in June 2014. Almost no Christians returned to Mosul after the liberation by the Iraqi army, so they performed for a mainly Muslim audience. When performing for such an audience “we try to rearrange the program but, through our work and our style, we show our faith,” Sam said.
Sam adds, “My dream is that we keep on giving, to continue to work together, to present works that touch people, carrying the word to the people we can impact.”
Hiba: “In our culture, it is problematic for a girl to sing.”
Hiba is one of the singers. The 25-year-old woman is happy that female voices were added. “God gives a gift to every person, and this talent must be used; one must seek how to nurture this talent. That is why I joined.” Her motivation was also linked to being a woman who wanted to break the cultural barriers for women to perform. “In our culture, it’s problematic for a girl to sing. I joined to break this limitation and obstacle that hovers over our lands. It is uncommon for a girl to sing. It is a barrier that is very hard to crack.”
She says she “faced difficulties and opposition at the beginning” with the band. “But we never stopped. On the contrary, despite the negativities and the wrongful gossip, we said that we must go on. The most important thing is to have a purpose, to seek it and continue the journey.”
For Hiba, it is important to know things in life have a purpose. “God gave us a gift. We must invest in this talent, the band allowed every person to discover their God given talent, to stand on stage and sing with a beautiful voice that God has given us.”
What keeps her going too, is the response of the audience. “I see joy and happiness in their eyes, this makes me really happy.” She and Sam refer to one of their first performances. “It was on Mother’s Day. We invited a lot of people to Saint Paul [an activity center belonging to the church]. We brought joy to the audience, we felt the joy, we saw how touched and moved those mothers were.”
Farid: “We will remain in this land”
Farid (27) is a singer and he plays the daf, a frame instrument, in the band. “I want to keep on presenting music that surpasses the noise of war and destruction, wanting to deliver a message to the world. Music in general, is the biggest drive for hope in the future. Music is a language of peace, of love. Surely the audience senses the message we want to deliver. It is grasped by all kinds of audiences. Our message comes from the heart.”
About staying in Iraq, he says: “This land is the land of our forefathers and the land of our children’s future. Our music [makes people] understand that we will remain in this land. We must preserve it, we need to deliver a beautiful picture to the world through music.”
Praise God that songs of worship are being sung in a place where the church was intended to be destroyed.
Pray that such music will spread across the nation of Iraq.
