Two batons and a harmonic convergence

And for an orchestra that has long suffered - and even now still confronts - charges that it is a foothold of Western cultural imperialism in an Arab and Muslim land, bringing the ancient strains of the desert and fertile crescent to Washington is important.

"By bringing this traditional music here and mixing it with classical sounds, we can begin to accomplish two goals," says Abdulla Jamal Saguirma, who composed a piece for the concert here. "We give Kurdish music a wider audience among Western people who don't know our music, but we can also gradually introduce Western classical music to our people who don't know it, either."

Taking a picture of his children from his pocket, Mr. Saguirma says: "They would still be living in what amounted to a large prison" if Mr. Hussein had not been removed from power, "but now we have a rebirth, a coming back to life, and music must help in this advance." The incorporation of Kurdish musicians into the INSO is one example of that "advance." Such would have been unthinkable under Hussein, who disdained the Kurds and their culture, he says.

But the reemergence of the INSO is a tale of fortitude in other ways. For American symphony orchestras that have known financial woes and faced community indifference, the Iraqi experience gives a whole new meaning to hard times.

Musicians were paid less than $20 a month under the regime of Hussein - forcing symphony members to live by other means, like cab driving, teaching, even selling coal. A few were jailed for not bowing to the dictator's whims. Conductor Ezzat, who balked the second time he was ordered to set one of Hussein's novels to music, fled the country in 2002 and took up residence in Sweden.

DURING the war and subsequent looting, music scores were damaged or destroyed. Most instruments, though old, survived because the musicians stowed them at home. Still, some instruments were damaged again after it was announced in September that the symphony would go to Washington.

The four-decade-old orchestra enjoyed its zenith during the 1970s and '80s, but gradually declined under the twin forces of Hussein and United Nations economic sanctions beginning in 1990. Basic needs like replacement strings and reeds became harder to get.

All that has changed now. After a global donation drive, the Major Orchestra Librarians' Association has assembled more than 400 musical scores to augment the 40, all composed before 1875, the INSO had left. Other groups have pledged new instruments, and the State Department is creating a number of Fulbright scholarships in music for Iraq.

As Kurd Ibrahim Mirza, who plays the zarib, a chalice-shaped drum made of mulberry wood, says: "We were isolated, oppressed, we couldn't flourish. But now the walls are down, the music plays again, and I feel the future is up to us."

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