Songs of Sadness, Songs of Love: Marsha Emerman's On the Banks of the Tigris

Music is a powerful force for commemoration and coming together; we see this in the experiences of the Iraqi musicians who were displaced from their homeland following World War II and the rise of Saddam Hussein. In her poignant documentary, Marsha Emerman focuses the lens on actor Majid Shokor, who speaks to Iraqi exiles in Melbourne, the Middle East and Europe in an attempt to reconnect with his roots, writes Brian Yatman.

Additional keywords: Farida Mohammad Ali, maqam, Baghdad, Naji Cohen, Elias Shasha, Alber Elias, Saleh and Daoud Al-Kuwaity, Yair Dalal, Ahmed Mukhtar, Adil Al-Hashimi, Kawkab Hamza.