2010年温哥华冬季奥运会（XXI Olympic Winter Games）是第21届冬季奥运会，从2010年2月12日开始，到2月28日结束，历时16天。在冬奥会中作为表演嘉宾的2位音乐人分别来自伊拉克和伊朗，他们表示，音乐不分国界，不分民族，与政治无关。
The Olympic flame burns during the opening ceremony for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, 12 Feb 2010

They come from two nations - Iraq and Iran - that have been enemies for years.  But at the Vancouver Games, Rahim Al Haj of Iraq and Amir Kouhskani of Iran will join to play together as part of the Cultural Olympiad music program.  Both artists believe that music is a language that supersedes national, political, and ethnic boundaries.

Rahim al Haj's story begins in Baghdad, where he began playing the oud - regarded as the patriarch of many string instruments such as the lute and guitar - at age nine. He loved music so much, he used to sleep with his instrument and even speak to it.

Eventually, Rahim's love of music led him to study with Munir Bashir - considered by many to be the greatest oud player ever - and Salim Abdul Kareem, at the Institute of Music in Baghdad, Iraq. But under former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, al Haj was inprisoned for nearly 18 months for not supporting the Baathist party.

Rahim was forced to flee his homeland, and escaped to Jordan. But the price of his freedom was his oud - to leave Iraq he had to leave his beloved instrument behind. Eventually he came to the United States, replaced his instrument and now lives and teaches in New Mexico.

Rahim says his painful journey informs his playing.  The musician told VOA that he feels a special responsibility to use his talent to communicate for people who suffer and for those who have no voice of their own.

"This is the message I think that musicians have to know. It's not entertainment," said Rahim. "Not to go to a bar and play some music and make people happy while they are having a beer, this is not my thing. My thing is to educate people what's going on right now in the world.  My mission in life in music is three things: peace and love and compassion. How can we give these people a voice, the voiceless people?"

As part of his mission, the Grammy-nominated Al Haj donated the proceeds from his last album, which featured a stellar cast of international musicians, to Doctors without Borders to help Iraqi relief.

Amir Koushkani began his musical training in Iran and specialized in Persian classical music.  His instrument is the tar - a longer-necked instrument than Rahim Al Haj's oud. Koushkani immigrated to Canada in 1991, and has composed several works in which he seeks to blend classical Persian and Western styles. 

In his apartment in Vancouver, Koushkani told VOA that playing with Rahim Al Haj will be a bridge of understanding - because they share a love for music and they can communicate their musical passion to the world. "Politics and relations between countries, it's not similar to our approach together. So I will communicate with him with passion, with love, and everything I have in my heart for music in general," he said.

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