The Wild Instrument
“The Wild Instrument” is an innovative project led by Sherko Abbas. The artist has turned a small handmade object, a Damaqachan – a simple toy from Iraq, into a musical instrument. Assembled from bicycle spokes, nails, and matches, this toy creates miniature explosions. Abbas’s musical adaptation operates on a similar principle, producing unpredictable sounds akin to explosions when played.
Since 2015, Sherko has been partnering with sound artists and musicians for performances with “The Wild Instrument.” These performances demonstrate how the Iraqi culture had absorbed the war and how, as a result, everyday life has undergone a change.
Wild Instrument performance
- 2014 Alternativa Festival Gdańsk, Poland
- 2015 When the Wild Instrument sing at Goldsmith University London
- 2017 Clamour at institute of fine art gallery Sulaimania-Iraq
- 2021 Brouhaha as part of Push Festival at the Home theatre, Manchester UK
- 2022, May Flames Pave the Way for You at NOMUS Nowe Muzeum Sztuki w Gdańsku
“In November 2021, I was invited to introduce Brouhaha, a sound-based performance by Sherko and Kani Kamil at Home Theater in Manchester, Britain. In their early decades in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, the 1980–88 Iran-Iraq war laid waste to both countries and left indelible impressions on the artists. This marks the starting point for the sounds on display in their piece, Brouhaha—roughly meaning argument, ruckus, noise, or uproar. In the performance, Sherko played a “wild instrument” of wood and metal, based on the principles of a child’s toy. He explained that his construction was based on a small handmade object called damaqachan, or “spoke”: “In Iraq, damaqachan is a simple toy, constructed from bicycle spokes, nails and matches, which sets off miniature explosions.” Simultaneously, Kani manipulated vinyl record sound effects, including distorted musical samples of Umm Kulthum’s “Baghdad” and Beethoven’s “Eroica,” both of which had been used to introduce the news in pre-2003 Iraq.
During the performance, audience members gasped as warped sirens met unexpected explosions, at times filling the theater with smoke. Manipulating “sonic memory,” Sherko and Kani reminded those present of the different soundtracks heard by those who suffered the war on the ground.”
An extract from the text: The Brouhaha of War: soundscapes of the Invasion of Iraq, twenty years on
To read the full text click the link below
The brouhaha of war: soundscapes of the invasion of Iraq, twenty years on
When the Wild Instruments Sing: new installation by Sherko Abbas
