Images of Iraqi women mourning their dead sons are usually shown in the backdrop of resistance singers

FALLUJAH, December 29 (IslamOnline.net) – Nine months of what many Iraqis see as a long-standing occupation of their oil-rich country, resistance songs are the best-seller here, an American newspaper reported Sunday, December 28.

Taking many shapes and forms, the Iraqi resistance against the U.S.-led occupation turned to music, a popular form among young people, said The Miami Herald reported.

Singer Sabah Hashim needed no promotion at the Sound of the Revolution music shop.

Hashim, the most favored among Iraqi young men, is part of a new growing group of Iraqi singers formed after the occupation and calls in their anti-Western lyrics for fighting occupies.

A part of Hashim's latest collection called "The Anger" urge listeners to "carry your weapons and kick the heretic people out of your land. The people of Fallujah are like wolves when they attack the enemy".

Fallujah was the scene of a bloody U.S. military attack during a demonstration calling for an end to occupation in April. More than nine people shot dead in the protests, drawing fury among local inhabitants.

In the theater, Hashim usually sings against a backdrop of images of occupation for his homeland, said the Herald.

Images of the American F-16 firing at a target followed by huge, orange explosions; Iraqi women mourning their dead sons; American soldiers arresting Iraqis are among daily images in Iraq shown in the backdrop.

Other scenes of resistance celebration shows a group of Iraqis celebrating around a destroyed U.S. tank.

'Popular'

These songs are especially popular in cities like Fallujah and across the Sunni Triangle, where resistance against U.S. occupying troops has been heavy as a way of rejecting the U.S. occupation.

Nudher Aboud, 36, a jobless father who bought "The Anger" recently at the shop  said that these songs is an effective way to urge the Iraqis to fight occupation and help resistance.

"When I hear this music, it provokes me to help the resistance," he said.

Ehab Thaya, 20, reported high score of selling estimated by 75 copies of The Anger a week, the store owner.

Another music store owner, Noori Hashim, 30, who sells a video CD version of "The Anger" collection, also reports brisk sales, mostly to young men.

Different Genres

Resistance songs played rarely on local radio stations or in restaurants but is often played at weddings varies as some sounds like Arab pop music using drums and guitars and others are more religious.

Many singers come from Sunni towns especially from Fallujah and Mosul suffering from both the U.S. occupation as well as frustrated over the lack of security, electricity and municipal services, said the Herald .

"We will face death. We will never give up our land," sings Qassim al Sultan, a singer from Mosul.

"We will remove America from the map," he added.

But anti-American sentiments are rising among all people of the violence-inflicted country, where promises of a better future and more democracy have proved empty.

Arab Nationalism

Other songs play to Arab nationalism and call on Arabs throughout the Middle East to rally and expel the U.S.-led occupiers.

"Baghdad calls Arabs for militancy and martyrdom," Adnan Faisal sings.

"From Mosul to Hillah, we are Arabs, and we refuse to be insulted. We are ready for death," he added.

According to Arab traditions, dying in defense of the country or ending its occupation is an honorable act, and Arab analysts are always keen to draw a difference between resistance and terrorism.

The American paper added that resistance songs touch the listeners with piety as well as putting the singers and listeners on higher moral ground and broaden the fighting occupation message's appeal.

The Iraqi resistance songs are not a new phenomenon as it appeared before in the song of Shaaban Abdel-Rahim 'Enough' which skyrocketed in the Arab capitals and channels.

The song touched on surging feelings of resentment, fervor, passion riled in the restless region as well as the U.S. and British pretexts to attack Iraq.