Young Iraqi Christian refugee’s singing audition goes viral

A young Chaldean Christian refugee in Lebanon, who fled the horrors of ISIS just months ago, is turning heads with her stunning performance on Lebanon’s “The Voice Kids,” an adaptation of the reality singing competition “The Voice.” Mirna Hanna, 11, fled Iraq together with her family after ISIS threatened to kidnap her, according to her father, Anwar, a former government employee. In the build-up to her audition, Mirna’s older brother arrived at her school convincing her that the cameraman who was accompanying him was filming a segment about refugees, before presenting her with an audition invite. Hanna took to the stage in a beautiful red dress performing the popular Arabic song ‘El Barha Bil Helem (Yesterday in a dream,)’ wowing judges including Kadhim(Kazem) Al-Sahir, dubbed the “Caesar of Arabic Song” who comes from Mosul, now ISIS’ Iraqi capital. She also sang “Let it go,” the popular song from Disney’s animated feature film “Frozen,” before receiving a standing ovation from the judges and audience. Hanna’s clip has garnered over 13 million views on YouTube in just over a week. With the judges then jostling over who gets to mentor her in the next stage of the competition, Hanna chose fellow Iraqi, Kazem, as her mentor.