On Oct. 7, Iraqis in Pajamas released a dance remix of “’Til You Can Dance Again.”
In the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, singer, songwriter and bass player Loolwa Khazzoom stopped dancing and making music. Joy felt incompatible with solidarity. Then she reconsidered. Diminishing her own joy would not diminish anyone else’s suffering. But what if joy itself could become an act of solidarity?
Khazzoom returned to her bass, and songs poured out. A friend was disturbed by how angry the new material sounded. Weeks later, however, that same friend, struggling with the aftermath himself, asked Khazzoom how she could seem so peaceful. She laughed. “Remember those angry songs?”
For Khazzoom, the exchange captured something she had long understood about art: anger, grief, heartbreak and other difficult emotions could be faced fully, expressed through the work, transformed into healing.
Out of that period came an album of seven songs for the victims of Oct. 7, including the title track, “’Til You Can Dance Again” – a spin on the refrain “We will dance again,” voiced by survivors of the massacre. Khazzoom turned the refrain into an invocation for global support, healing and transformation: “We’ll dance for you ’til you can dance again.”
Iraqis in Pajamas’ music defies genres, moving through alternative, punk, metal, jazz, experimental, spoken word and ancient sacred chant, following each song wherever it wants to go. However, Khazzoom’s Iraqi Jewish lineage runs through it all, not only in motifs and prayers, but in the consciousness from which the songs emerge. Rather than dilute specificity in pursuit of universality, she writes from inside the raw particulars of lived experience, often while healing is still unfolding, without necessarily naming the circumstances that gave rise to a song. The result is music rooted deeply enough in one person’s particularity to resonate across differences.
For Iraqis in Pajamas, music is the way through – a quest to transmute poison into medicine. That same principle shapes the band itself. Its musicians bring different backgrounds and sensibilities into an ongoing act of cross-cultural collaboration, allowing each contribution to remain distinct while creating something none of them could have made alone.
The current core lineup came together during the pandemic and continues to create through exchanging recorded files: Western Washington-based Khazzoom, British Columbia-based guitarist Mike Deeth and Pennsylvania-based drummer Chris Bellin, with guest musicians joining as needed. Nearly six years later, Khazzoom has never met Bellin in person and met Deeth only two years ago, despite the band developing and releasing numerous singles and albums together, making Iraqis in Pajamas a distinctly 21st century band. To listen to and purchase their music, go to iraqisinpajamas.bandcamp.com.
– Courtesy Iraqis in Pajamas
