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 Iraqi-born Luv, 25, has seen her video rack up more than 2.5
million views on YouTube since its release in February; but she
has faced criticism for what some see as provocative imagery in
the clip accompanying the modern mix of dance, hip-hop and
traditional Middle Eastern music.
Luv said the video, which includes exploding petrol bombs,
backing dancers with AK-47 rifles, and the singer dancing in a
mid-thigh silver dress atop a citadel, represents the Kurdish
spirit and struggle for an independent state.
"There were death threats from many Islamic groups... it was a
really hard time for me," Luv said in an interview in Arbil, the
autonomous Kurdistan region's capital. "(But) my whole message
is that, Kurdish people, we need to risk everything for our
dreams and fight for our country."
Iraqi Kurdistan's population of roughly 5 million people has
enjoyed a degree of independence from Baghdad since the end of
the first Gulf War in the early 1990s.
But the Kurds are now closer than ever to leaving Iraq
altogether, with Massoud Barzani, leader of their autonomous
region, calling on his parliament to ready a referendum on
independence after the latest violence in the country.
Critics argue that Kurdish leaders' actions could lead to
broader chaos in Iraq and beyond its borders, promoting
rebellions in Kurdish areas of neighboring states.
Luv's mother was a Kurdish 'peshmerga' fighter before the family
emigrated during the Iran-Iraq War.
"You can see in Kurdistan right now that people don’t want war,
we have been through so much already," Luv said." We have fought
so much to get this freedom, so we're not going to let nobody
take it away."
Her management team declined to say whether any of the death
threats she had received came from the Islamic State, the group
previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL),
saying they did not want to give any of the groups or
individuals publicity.
The Islamic State's lightning takeover of the northern city of
Mosul and advance towards Baghdad stirred the latest crisis in
Iraq, and saw the autonomous Kurdish Regional Government expand
its borders and take over oil areas as Iraqi military forces
retreated.
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Luv recently visited Kurdish peshmerga forces that have been
involved in skirmishes with the Islamic State.
Photos on her Facebook page show her wearing an old-style peshmerga
uniform, red and black scarf and aviator sunglasses, standing before
ranks of black-uniformed Kurdish troops.
By email she said she had been close to Mosul, the Iraqi power base
of the Islamic State, which lies just 10 km (6 miles) from territory
controlled by forces of the Kurdish Regional Government.
"I wanted my first single to be 'Risk it All’ to let people know
that’s what I represent," Luv said.
As a baby, Luv spent nine months in a refugee camp in Turkey before
her family emigrated to Finland. She moved to Los Angeles at 18 to
pursue a music career and after struggling for several years was
picked up by LA-based independent label G2 Music.
Many of the dancers and children who feature in her first video,
which was filmed in the Kurdish-controlled regional capital Arbil,
were Kurdish refugees fleeing civil war in Syria.
"After the video I decided I wanted to visit them and thank them for
everything they’d done. So I went to one of the schools inside the
camp and gave them books and toys,” Luv said.
“I owe those Syrian Kurds a lot as really without them the video
wouldn’t have been such a big success."
"Risk it All" has since featured on an album for the 2014 FIFA
soccer World Cup.
Speaking before Germany’s victory in Sunday night's World Cup final,
Luv said she had wished that the hosts or Argentina would win the
tournament. But she hopes in a few years to be cheering on another
team.
"Nothing would make me more proud than to see Kurdistan there,” Luv
said. “I believe the dream of independence will come.”
(Reporting by David Sheppard; Editing by Michael Roddy and Ralph
Boulton)
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