Amid the dust, rubble and shattered calm, Mr Wasfi set down a chair on the ripped street and began to play
Just an hour before Karim Wasfi began to play his cello in the Baghdad neighbourhood of Mansour on Tuesday, a car bomb exploded killing 20 people and injuring many others.
Amid the dust, rubble and shattered calm, Mr Wasfi set down a chair on the ripped street and began to play.
Mr Wasfi, former Director of the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra, played as a crowd started gathering around him. Some began to shoot videos of his performance. The clippings immediately went viral on viral on social media , with thousands of Iraqis and others sharing photos and praising his 'magical' performance.
Former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Baraham Salih posted a picture of Mr Wasfi on Twitter, saying, 'melody of life survives bigotry and death.'
In an interview to interview to Al Jazeera , the cellist said he was trying to create life through his music. "It was an action to try to equalise things, to reach the equilibrium between ugliness, insanity and grotesque, indecent acts of terror - to equalise it, or to overcome it, by acts of beauty, creativity and refinement," he said.
Asked about how people reacted to his music, he said, "Soldiers cried. They kissed, they clapped, they felt alive, they felt human and they felt appreciated and respected."
Watch him play in this video:
So great was the impression that Mr Wasfi made that this happened the next day:
Amid the dust, rubble and shattered calm, Mr Wasfi set down a chair on the ripped street and began to play.
Mr Wasfi, former Director of the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra, played as a crowd started gathering around him. Some began to shoot videos of his performance. The clippings immediately went viral on viral on social media , with thousands of Iraqis and others sharing photos and praising his 'magical' performance.
Former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Baraham Salih posted a picture of Mr Wasfi on Twitter, saying, 'melody of life survives bigotry and death.'
Iraqi musician Karim Wasfi performs at terrorist explosion site in Baghdad; melody of life survives bigotry & death pic.twitter.com/pczLv54mp7
- Barham Salih (@BarhamSalih) April 28, 2015In an interview to interview to Al Jazeera , the cellist said he was trying to create life through his music. "It was an action to try to equalise things, to reach the equilibrium between ugliness, insanity and grotesque, indecent acts of terror - to equalise it, or to overcome it, by acts of beauty, creativity and refinement," he said.
Asked about how people reacted to his music, he said, "Soldiers cried. They kissed, they clapped, they felt alive, they felt human and they felt appreciated and respected."
Watch him play in this video:
So great was the impression that Mr Wasfi made that this happened the next day:
2 Iraqi students play Iraq's national anthem at on the same spot where a car bomb exploded yesterday in #Baghdad. pic.twitter.com/7EzGO7wdru
- Ali Ajeena (@AliAjeena) April 28, 2015Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
