Nightlife in Baghdad reflects changing city

By BASIM al-SHARA

BAGHDAD — The solar-powered streetlights in central Baghdad flicker on shortly after sunset, pushing back the darkness that once brought fear to the capital. Their glare signals the return of nightlife to the Iraqi capital.

Cars filled with fashionable young Baghdadis cruise down Karrada Street. Families bustle into clothing shops, restaurants and teahouses. Long-shuttered bars and nightclubs are filled once more with young patrons.

As security has improved and curfews have eased, Baghdad’s once-famous nightlife has slowly reemerged. It is a symbol of normalcy in a city long brutalized by war and still tormented by bombings.

Indeed, after six years of war and terror when, as one resident said, “People locked their doors at 4.p.m.,” the city appears to have adopted the saying, carpe diem, or perhaps more appropriately in this case, seize the night.

At the Al-Hasna restaurant in central Baghdad, 300 to 400 customers arrive nightly to watch the entertainment, have a meal or drink an alcoholic beverage.

“Customers don’t care about the cost,” said Ahmed Saed, a 28-year-old guard at the restaurant. “All they care about is relaxing.”

Cabarets are the latest addition to Baghdad’s nightlife, following a government order last year that allowed nightclubs to reopen. Former President Saddam Hussein had ordered them closed in 1994, when he attempted to win support from conservative Islamic regimes following the first Gulf War.

Soaring temperatures

There is, of course, a practical reason for Baghdad’s lively nightlife. Soaring temperatures, particularly in spring and summer, make evenings the ideal time for Iraqis to socialize. Feasts that extended well past midnight have long been a fixture of Baghdad restaurants, as were hours-long chats in its teahouses.

That all came to an end in 2003. But now, despite the latest uptick in violence that has seen more than 150 people killed in bombings in recent weeks, the streets are coming alive after dark once again.

Hind Salah, 32, admits she feels a mixture of optimism and apprehension when she heads out for an evening on the town with her husband.

“The occasional blasts do plant a seed of fear in us,” said the mother of two.

Ahlam al-Dulaimi, on the other hand, expressed a more defiant tone.

“Nothing has changed because of the (recent) attacks,” said the 35-year-old Sunni housewife. “The Iraqi nature is unique; we’ve learned how to live in hell and heaven simultaneously.”

Baghdad’s young people in particular are keen to escape the confines of their homes. Young men say they are happy to resume their favorite pastime: meeting women.

Samer Jamal, 26, a student in Baghdad’s University of Technology, says he hands girls he meets in clubs his business card as an introduction.

“Girls like this because it’s more civilized,” he said.

In the past, when religious extremists controlled part of the capital, a young man could find himself hauled away for trying to slip a girl his phone number. “The security forces aren’t going to stop you from doing that now,” Jamal said.

Rana Ahmad, 24, wears military fatigues the latest fashion among Baghdad’s young women when she heads out to the clubs these days.

Her impression gained at the crowded club scene is that “the guys in Baghdad are getting back to normal.”

And for some young men, that means drinking alcohol. Broken beer bottles can now be seen on some streets of the capital.

Those streets are largely deserted shortly after midnight. A curfew in the city remains in place between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m.

X Basim al-Shara is reporter in Iraq who writes for The Institute for War & Peace Reporting, a nonprofit organization in London that trains journalists in areas of conflict. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune.