Once-bustling Baghdad cafe district fades away after war

BAGHDAD - Behind the dilapidated storefronts and collapsing colonnades of Rasheed Street lie the treasures of the Iraqi capital's cultural boom years: Old cinemas, artisan shops and smoky cafes playing classic ballads.

But with young Iraqis listening to modern music and spending hours in hipster-style coffee shops, the boulevard that bustled nonstop in the 1970s is at risk of being passed over.

Authorities have tried to revive the street - the oldest one in the city - in recent weeks by removing the security checkpoints and concrete blast walls that lined Rasheed for years.

Announcing the move, Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi extolled: "Rasheed Street is the memory of Baghdad." Despite his government's best efforts, it may remain that.

Decades ago, the street's Umm Kulthum Cafe was packed with wistful young men listening to the sultry voice of its namesake, the Egyptian queen of Arabic music.

"Coming here was a daily tradition for us. We used to have a lovely time," reminisced Abu Haidar, a retired Army serviceman in his seventies.

The neighborhood was so busy then that customers - writers, men on their way to or from work, and those seeking solace in the music - struggled to call over harried waiters to order muddy coffee and sweet Iraqi tea.

Now, it only fills up on Saturdays, the traditional day for meeting up with friends in cafes. Older men chain-smoke and sip hot drinks on wooden benches under framed portraits of Iraq's unseated king, Faisal II.

"After all these years, this coffee shop is the only place we can go to remember," Haidar said.

"We hope it can escape extinction."

Some date the street's deterioration back to the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. The invasion and sectarian violence that followed saw several bombs planted near Rasheed Street, with the last explosion in 2016 killing more than two dozen people

"I started coming here in 1971, but after 2003, it was ignored," said Tareq Jamila, 70, another cafe customer. "You wouldn't find the old pioneers, who used to sit in the coffee shop and actually understand Umm Kulthum's songs."

Agence France - Presse