Fallujah, Iraq -- The rhythm, you can almost dance to. The lyrics call for guerrilla war.
"America has come and occupied Baghdad," singer Sabah al-Jenabi croons. "The army and people have weapons and ammunition. Let's go fight and call out the name of God."
On the musical front of the guerrilla war in Iraq, Americans hold the heights. They control the country's radio stations, which fill the airwaves with apolitical Western and Arab pop tunes. But at least some Iraqi musicians, like al-Jenabi, are taking the battle for Iraqis' hearts and minds to the country's cassette and CD players.
The U.S.-led occupation authority has outlawed mass media appeals for violence against coalition troops or other Iraqis. Its spokesman, Dan Senor, told reporters recently that "any sort of public expression used in an institutionalized sense that would incite violence against the coalition or Iraqis" is banned.
But al-Jenabi's cassette tapes, and others calling for violent insurrection against the Americans, are hot items on the streets of Baghdad, Fallujah and Ramadi. Al-Jenabi's tunes ring out in the bazaars of central Iraq, where rebels have been shooting down U.S. helicopters weekly.
"The men of Fallujah are men of hard tasks," he sings in an Arabic argot spoken only in Fallujah and nearby Ramadi. "They paralyzed America with rocket-propelled grenades. May God protect them from airplanes."
The music taps into the rage of Iraq's Sunni Muslims, who dominate much of central Iraq. Among Iraqis, it is the Sunnis -- whom Saddam Hussein, also a Sunni, favored over the majority Shia sect -- who feel most abused by the U.S.-led occupation.
Even Iraqis generally supportive of the U.S. occupation admit they're attracted to the music. Driver Ahmad Hossein plays al-Jenabi's cassettes in his car. "I like the music and the lyrics," said Hossein, a member of the Shia sect, which was oppressed under Hussein's regime. "I don't know why. I don't agree with what it's saying. It just makes me feel good."
But Iraq's musicians are divided about supporting the guerrilla war. The tunes al-Jenabi sings are based on a centuries-old form of religious music -- praise-singing -- that evolved among Islam's mystical Sufi brotherhoods. And Sufi praisers, traditional leaders in the writing of songs to fight by, seem unconvinced that war is needed now.
Seyyed Abdullah Hassani sings and plays the daf, a big hand-held drum. His family has been praising for 30 generations, and he ticks off the names of his forefathers from memory. Followers come to his book-filled office and ask him to sing a few words about Allah, a dead relative or a newborn child in return for a small donation.
Iraq's last rebellion against a Western army was in 1920, when the British Empire had seized this land after World War I in search of oil to fuel the navy upon which the empire depended. Then, eminent religious leaders issued the call for jihad and Sufi praisers -- including Hassani's grandfather -- turned out songs in support.
"Within a couple years, the British fled," Hassani said. In fact, while the British were thrown back by the revolt, they ultimately used heavy bombing by their new air force to regain control.
Now, Hassani says, the anti-American revolt among Sunnis lacks the legitimate sanction of religious leaders. Sufi praisers have not joined the fight.
Unlike Sunnis as a group, Sufis and their praisers were suspected of disloyalty by Hussein's regime, which harassed and often jailed them. So perhaps it is no surprise that Hassani disagrees with al-Jenabi about the U.S. troops' role. "The Americans have come as liberators, and for that we should be grateful," he said.
In Sunni cities and neighborhoods, CD shops and cassette stalls sell al-Jenabi's albums and others calling for jihad for about 2,000 Iraqi dinars, less than $1.25. At Sabah Recordings, a popular cassette shop in a Fallujah alleyway, owner Maher al-Ajrari first denied that he even sold al-Jenabi's music.
After an hour of hemming and hawing, he admitted the jihad tapes are his best-sellers. He also carries video versions of the albums, which accompany the songs with news footage of attacking U.S. troops, and dead and maimed Iraqis.
Ajrari says he has no anti-American agenda. "We sell these just for business and for commercial profit," he said.
That commercial motive dismays Hassani, the Sufi praiser, who criticized the way backers of jihad have borrowed his art form. He said they are mere pretenders, "artists" with no real spiritual credentials. The call for jihad, or holy struggle, must come from a religious leader, not a singer trying to make a buck, he said: "The act of jihad cannot be until we have permission from God and our source of emulation."
[You can listen to Sabah al-Jenabi's "Rage," Seyed Abdullah Hassani, Abdul Rahman al-Refai, "Oh My Country" at <http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/ny-womusic0118,0,3240118.story?coll=ny-nationworld-headlines>.] ***** -- Yoshie
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