Yasamin unleashes her sweet-sounding but politically charged new track, ‘Baghdad Boy’, a love song set amongst a backdrop of war, turmoil, murder and heartbreak. The single, mastered by Elliot James (Ne-Yo, T-Pain, Maroon 5), is accompanied by a collage of footage introducing Iraqi protestors in a light the media often chooses to ignore.
Yasamin speaks of the meaning behind her very personal track and video:
“In October 2019, peaceful protestors flooded the streets of Baghdad (my birth city) asking for an end to government corruption and for true democracy in Iraq. Their peacefulness was met with lethal force which, to date, has left over 700 peaceful protestors dead.
“Seven months on, the protests are continuing daily and the protestors remain peaceful despite the violence used against them. I found that so inspiring; especially since, in theory, this should be the most violent generation Iraq has ever produced having grown up under dictatorship, an American invasion and 3-year ISIS control of northern territories which ended in 2017.
“This is a love song to that peaceful protestor; the new Baghdad Boy.
“The track starts with the question “Baghdad guy, were you born to die?” I felt that something monumental was happening in Iraq, yet the violence used against the protestors was not getting any coverage. It felt as if the world was over Iraq; “This whole damn world didn’t say a thing ‘cause killing you is now normal” the song continues before it changes tone into a cheeky “bit of a player, you were never my type, but since I’ve seen October, you are all that I want” “Now the whole world can try, but I’ve only got eyes for my Baghdad guy”
“The track shifts from joy to sadness to reflect the daily situation on the ground in the protest squares (I’ve been following the protests daily through youtube vlogs and social media updates); one minute a protestor could be singing patriotic songs and dancing and the next the protests squares could be attacked and they find out they’ve just lost a friend or a brother. It happened all the time. But it’s not an action movie, it’s real people and its real lives.
“The music video for the song introduces these protestors and footage from these inspiring protests. The classic Baghdad Boy has been portrayed in the media as an angry violent man which is a lazy and irresponsible generalisation of over 40 million people. The music video shows a different narrative; it show these guys as they are; human. All footage in black and white is of protestors who lost their lives during the protests and subsequently became icons of this October revolution.
“It is the most moving and exciting thing I have ever witnessed. You can’t help but be moved and inspired by it all and the songs just started pouring out of me about this new gorgeous new generation of modern, arty, fashionable Iraqi youth peacefully fighting for a new Iraq using nothing but their voices.”
Yasamin is a Aotearoa-based ‘artivist’, musician and songwriter who is incredibly dedicated to using her artistic voice to draw attention to what is happening in her birth country, and to her people every day. Her album is due for release later in the year, with further singles to come.