Youaw Iskhaq

The Assyrian singer Youaw Iskhaq was born in the city of Kirkuk in 1932, his father was Iskhaq Enwiya D-Mar Sargis and his mother Suria Polus, he was married to Hilda Iskhaq in 1968 and had three daughters.

He studied at the Assyrian school in Kirkuk and completed his studies at the IPC training center and started work at the Kirkuk Oil Refinery.

Youaw had many hobbies and talents including Sports, Music & Drama, he loved singing from his early age, and had a beautiful voice and wide vocal range, he used to sing the songs of Zeki Müren the Turkish singer, and the Arabic singer Farid al-atrash. 

His first Assyrian song was "Kha Brata Mookhibli" in 1965 and was influenced by a turkish song. Rabi Gabriel Babela later wrote him lyrics for a song titled "Shmee Ya Wardee".

He sang both in Kirkuk and Baghdad at the Assyrian Sports club, and when Rabi Simon Amirkhas heard him sing for the first time, he admired his voice and singing talent and wrote him a number of songs, including "Khouba La Spira" and "Ayno Kumi-(Anna Anna)" which he recorded and released in Iran on a record in 1967 accompanied by J. Jones Band. His fame progress throughout Iraq, but he migrated to Australia and retired from singing in 1969, and settled in Australia until passing away in 2006 he gave Assyrian music memorable songs that will live for ever, and singers have covered his songs and paid tribute to his music accomplishment.