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Iraqi Kurdistan's 'Shakira' Dashni Murad causes shock
waves in her homeland
18.10.2009
By Asso Ahmad in Erbil
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October
18, 2009
ERBIL-Hewlęr,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq', —
A sultry Kurdish singer who models herself on the
Colombian superstar Shakira is causing a sensation
in her socially conservative homeland of Iraqi
Kurdistan.
Dashni Murad, 23, wears figure-hugging bodices,
skimpy skirts and plunging necklines as she writhes
to the rhythm of songs fusing Kurdish and Western
beats -- in the way that Shakira has drawn
inspiration from her Middle Eastern heritage.
Mosque preachers have railed against Murad and some
TV channels have refused to broadcast her clips
because they consider her gyrating dances and
revealing clothing to be an offense to Kurdish
morals.
But Murad refuses to be deterred, and says she will
press ahead with her mission to transform Kurdish
culture.
“I want to change Kurdish style," she said in an
interview in Erbil, the Kurdish regional capital. "I
want the youth to see my dance. I want to present
something distinctive, far from the half-dead old
style.” |
Dashni Murad, a Kurdish artist from
Sulaimaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan,
during an interview in Erbil, photo: Asso Ahmad /
For The Times |
The northern region of Kurdistan is the safest part
of Iraq, and Kurds pride themselves on the
development and investment that have distinguished
it from the rest of the country. But the mostly
Muslim enclave is also deeply conservative,www.ekurd.netand
social traditions such as honor killings and in some
places female circumcision still persist.
Murad moved with her parents to Holland when she was
9, and grew up exposed to Western influences. She
first came to attention as the presenter of a TV
show broadcast from Europe in Kurdish called "No
Control," in which she made surprise visits to
ordinary families and interviewed them.
Recently she returned to Kurdistan, and she now
divides her time between Europe and her homeland.
"Dashni plays with fire in closed society," said
Karazan Ali, 30, who is one of her fans. "I admire
her courage."
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