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Northern Iraq Hosts Music Festival
By Benjamin Sand
Irbil, Iraq
30 October 2006

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The Kurdistan region in Northern Iraq has largely avoided the surging violence that has destabilized so much of the country these days. In the Kurdish capital, Irbil, a national music festival is underway, celebrating the entire country's shared musical history. The festival is a bittersweet escape from Iraq's growing civil conflict.

The band is called Baghdad, but tonight they are playing in Irbil, capital of the Kurdistan region in Northern Iraq.

Monday is the final night of the city's three-day music festival. Like Baghdad, most of the groups performing are playing traditional Iraqi music, some of the songs more than 400 years old.

Organizers say the festival is, at least in part, meant to remind Iraqis that they share a common culture.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-10-30-voa36.cfm