We are used to hearing many stories about people who have the talent to imitate the voices of famous personalities or some animals. However, the 72-year-old Iraqi Mam Khidr Sidu, 72, broke the norm this time by imitating the sounds of light and heavy weapons, and this is what made him a rare talent.

Weapon types

Sido lives in one of the border villages of the Siddkan district within the Soran district in the Erbil governorate of Iraqi Kurdistan. He is the father of 9 boys and one girl.

Sido has a talent for imitating the sounds of heavy and light weapons, including the PKS machine gun, the RPG shell, the anti-aircraft machine gun "Dushka" and the Kalashnikov, as well as the bombing of aircraft and others.

Sido's talent appeared when he was a fighter in the ranks of the Kurdish forces since the seventies of the last century, and his talent grew even more as he heard on a daily basis the sounds of rockets, missiles and light and heavy weapons, he tells Al Jazeera Net.

His talent and passion for hearing the sounds of these weapons made him have the ability to imitate their sounds for about 20 minutes at once without stopping, but with age, illness and a recent disability in his left foot, he lost the ability to imitate for a long time, and he can no longer imitate sounds for more than two minutes.

rifle "Brno"

The degrees of passion for imitating the sounds of weapons for the Iraqi elderly are never different from each other, but he confirms that the sound of the “Brno” gun makes him feel an exceptional pleasure that differs from his feeling of imitating other types, as Al-Brno accompanied him for many years, and he was his close friend for days and nights, and he did not absent from him among the mountains and valleys of Kurdistan;

This is what prompts him to imitate her voice more than other weapons on a daily basis, even on his sick bed.

This talent made its owner a special place among the residents of his village and his family and relatives, and he was asked - before his illness - to participate in imitating the sounds of weapons in most public sessions, especially in evenings, and when he attends somewhere, everyone listens with astonishment to hear his voice and how he imitates the sounds of weapons.

The elderly Iraqi confirms that he will not succumb to the disease and will continue to imitate the sounds of weapons on a daily basis, even for a few seconds.

Aras (right), despite his many attempts, did not succeed in acquiring his father's talent (Al Jazeera Net)

The son fails to imitate

During varying periods, many of Sido's friends and relatives tried to imitate his talent, but the attempts were unsuccessful, including the attempt of his son Aras, who tried several times and in different periods to imitate his father's talent, but he did not succeed despite his continuous training.

The father's talent achieved great fame for Aras and his brothers, he tells Al Jazeera Net, and points out that when he goes anywhere they call him "a son who imitates the sounds of weapons."

The son recalls how his father used to train on a daily basis before his illness to imitate the sounds of weapons for several hours, and he tried several times to learn this talent, which he describes as a "rare art", but all his attempts were unsuccessful.

Old age and Seydoux's disease reduced his ability to imitate for a long time (Al-Jazeera Net)

Neglect and waste of talent

As for activist and journalist Amanj Ahmed - a resident of Soran district - he believes that the environment in which Sido grew up and the nature of his life that he lived for many years, moving between mountains and valleys, and carrying arms were behind his love for imitation of the sounds of weapons.

Ahmed says - to Al Jazeera Net - that if Sido's talent was in another country, it would have received care, attention and appreciation.

He regrets the loss of rare talents in his country between neglect and marginalization due to the lack of interest of the concerned authorities.