Show Originally Aired: 4/18/2003 CALL 1 800-423-TALK
The Music Of A Nation
The Iraqi National Symphony perform at a concert hall in Baghdad, Iraq, Feb. 27, 2003 (AP) Email to friend
View images from Dick Gordon's interviews with musicians and members of the Iraqi National Symphony while he's reporting from Baghdad.
It was two weeks ago when the first American tanks roared into this city. The rattle of their metal treads followed days of bombing, when the wail of sirens, the whistle and boom of missiles became the sounds of this city.
And once again in the long and violent history of Baghdad, the music was stilled. When people felt safe enough to venture outside they found, to their horror, that many of their cultural jewels, spared the ravages of American weapons, had been systematically looted and vandalized. In the schools of music, violins and pianos were left in splinters. Even the small pink desks of the kindergarten music class were broken. Coming up, a conversation with three of Iraq's top classical musicians, and from the city of 1,001 nights, live music.
