Karaoke Plays On as Kurds Repel Islamic Extremist Neighbors
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It’s Karaoke night at DC Steakhouse in the Iraqi Kurd capital of Erbil, and diners are singing along to love songs as the imported wines and licorice spirits flow in a haze of shisha and cigarette smoke.
Rebaz Serbaz and Aram Siddiq, both in the security business, took turns at renditions of a Kurdish song about a man who lost his beloved and fears he won’t see her again before he dies. Fifty miles (80 kilometers) away in Mosul, Islamic State militants punish such a lifestyle with penalties including lashings and death by beheading or stoning.