"The end is coming for Saddam. Right now. He knows it, his torturers know it. In the words of a new song?to be released in April?by Iraq's most famous singer, Kazim Al Sahir (his name has many spellings; he's also called Kadim Al Saher), "The War Is Over."

Still, if the war to come does indeed end by April, the divided nature of Iraq?and of its music?will not end. Indeed, the division may widen, as Iraq's Arabic majority population and its Kurdish minority each feel free to develop their already flourishing, very dissimilar cultures. The new Iraq may well look?and sound?something like today's Belgium, where the techno-heavy music of that country's Flemish-speaking regions bumps up against the Parisian Euro-pop of its francophone southern half. If so, those of us who want to know well the new, hopefully democratic Iraq dare not overlook the music of Kurdistan."

The Village Voice: Music: After Saddam, The Music by Michael Freedberg