Baghdad breakdancers

Usher, Chris Brown and 50 Cent are among the favourite artists listed by two Baghdad brothers who fancy themselves as breakdancing rappers with an R&B flavour.
Pulling robotic moves in a park that runs alongside the Tigris River in the centre of the Iraqi capital, Ahmed and Amar Mohammed quickly draw a crowd.
“We call ourselves AWA,” said Amar, 21, the older of the two, before bending backwards in a crab and then leaping to his feet.

Dressed in similar black t-shirts and jeans, the agile brothers head to the Abu Nuas park most days to practice. They cut an unusual image in a city better known for its bombs than its breakdancing.
Ahmed, a floppy-haired 19-year-old, lies on the grass and spins himself around with a swivel of his legs. Returning to his feet, he dives back down to the ground to make a one-armed handstand, while his brother gyrates nearby in slow motion, a grey, trilby hat in one hand.

At the height of the sectarian violence that gripped Iraq from 2005, the pair would run through dance moves and rap lines at home because it was too dangerous to venture outside. “We had no choice,” said Ahmed.
The Mohammed brothers said they held a small concert last year to show off their routines.
Asked to perform a rap on the spot, however, Ahmed falters after a few lines. “I don’t really want to continue because it’s new material,” he said.

[Picture 1: Ahmed, right, and Amar Mohammed pull moves in a Baghdad park;
Picture 2: The brothers chat about their musical influences.]

Watch the breakdancers try some moves:

Comments

[Kelly]

Ms Haynes - did you ask Ahmed & Amar to show you their moves so you could 'borrow' them for the next wedding you are invited to?