Iraqi Boy Band Hopes Saddam's Fall Spells Stardom

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, June 12, 2003

Iraqi Boy Band Hopes Saddam's Fall Spells Stardom

They call themselves Unknown To No One, but the five Iraqis bidding to become the world's next chart-topping boy band are not exactly famous. Yet.

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They call themselves Unknown To No One, but the five Iraqis bidding to become the world's next chart-topping boy band are not exactly famous. Yet.

Despite being so short of places to rehearse that they often have to practise their singing while driving around the bomb- scarred streets of Baghdad crammed into an old Volkswagen Passat, the five young men have attracted the interest of a British pop consultant who thinks they can make it big.

The toppling of Saddam Hussein has given them the chance to chase their dream. But militant Muslim groups are growing in influence in Iraq -- and the last thing they would want to see is an Iraqi boy band singing and dancing in matching outfits.

Cinemas, breweries and alcohol stores have been threatened and attacked by militant groups, and in many areas women have been told not to walk outdoors without a veil. But Unknown To No One say they won't let extremists get in their way.

"We lived under dictatorship for 35 years. I'm not prepared to go through that again, and I don't think anybody is," said lead singer Nadeem Hamed, a 20-year-old biology student. "If people attack us for being in a band, that's terrorism."

The band's members -- they chose five as it is the standard boy band size -- span Iraq's religious and ethnic spectrum.

Founders Art Haroutunian, 25, and Shant Garabedian, 24, are Armenian Christians. Diyar Diler is a 21-year-old Sunni Muslim Kurd. Hamed and 21-year-old Hassan Ali al-Falluji are Shi'ite Arabs.

"We are all brothers here," said Haroutunian, who writes the band's songs. "There is no racism. No civil war."

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