Culture

In the most recent millennium, what is now Iraq has been made up of five cultural areas:

• Kurdish in the north centred on Arbil
• Sunni Islamic Arabs in the centre around Baghdad
• Shi'a Islamic Arabs in the south centred on Basra
• the Assyrians, a Christian people, living in various cities in the north
• the Marsh Arabs, a nomadic people, who live on the marshlands of the central river

Archaeological Losses

Many treasures of Mesopotamian archaeology were housed in the Baghdad Museum until 2003, when they were lost to looting and vandalism during the chaos that accompanied the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States and allies. The number and value of stolen items are disputed. A campaign was launched soon after the loss, with the help of the British Museum, to catalogue and eventually recover looted works. Appeals by the museum resulted in some items being returned. Others clearly were stolen by criminal gangs with the intent of sale abroad.

Music

Iraq is known primarily for an instrument called the oud (similar to a lute) and a rebab (similar to a fiddle); its stars include Ahmed Mukhtar and the Assyrian Munir Bashir. Until the fall of Saddam Hussein, the most popular radio station was the Voice of Youth. It played a mix of western rock, hip hop and pop music, all of which had to be imported via Jordan due to international economic sanctions. Iraq has also produced a major pan-Arab pop star-in-exile in Kazem al Saher, whose songs include Ladghat E-Hayya, which was banned for its racy lyrics.