Iraqi refugee and musician Qutaiba Nuaimi was selected to compose and play a piece about refugees suffering during a festival organized by the Belgian Orchestra and the Music Institute in Mons.
The event offered a chance for communication among generations through performances that brought together senior musicians and a number of students from music institutes.
Nuaimi explained that his idea to express refugee suffering through music was inspired from recent development in Europe and migration caused by wars, especially from the Arab world.
His work is aimed at highlighting the struggle of refugees who have lived outdoors, in parks, train stations and public squares for months without shelter.
“So I wanted to highlight this humanitarian cause,” he explained.
Nuaimi told Asharq Al-Awsat: "As an Arab and a music composer, I wanted to express myself in my own way and send my message to highlight this suffering. I have composed this piece to communicate with Europeans and assert that most refugees have fled their countries because of war.”
“I have also lived through this experience when I arrived in Belgium. I know what the people are going through, especially in this cold weather. Every artist should use his art to express the events he experiences,” Nuaimi said.
The Iraqi composer gave a concert at the Belgian festival, he said is part of an opera he is working on.
Nuaimi, who studies music at the Conservatoire in Mons, Belgium, composed, in cooperation with several Belgian institutions, the "Song for Peace", which was performed at one of Brussel’s theaters in March last year.
It was held at the same time the country was commemorating the March 2016 terror attacks.
The music performance was attended by many of the country’s dignitaries, like King Philip, Prime Minister Charles Michel and others, said Nuaimi.
