By Clàudia Ferràndiz (@claudiafl27) and Amina Waheed
In 2011, peaceful protests against the repression of Assad’s dictatorship spread all around Syria. But they quickly spiraled into a deadly conflict, in which many parts are involved: Kurds, rebels, regime and ISIS, mainly. The war is still going on, after almost 7 years.
So far, more than 2 million Syrians have been killed or injured and many cities have been destroyed. Half of the population have been forced to leave their homes. They have sought refuge mostly inside Syria, but also in other countries such as Turkey, Lebanon or Jordan. Thousands of Syrians have risked their lives to make it to Europe as well. By 2017, over 5.5 million Syrians had become refugees.
What role has art played in this terrible crisis? We talk to a writer and a pianist, whose artistic production has helped them to overcome desperation, solitude and impotence during all these years.
Interview with Methkal Khalawi
Interview with Aeham Ahmad
Aeham Ahmad was born in 1988 in Yarmouk, a Palestinian refugee neighborhood in Damascus, Syria. Videos of Aeham playing the piano in the middle of the street, surrounded by destroyed buildings, went viral in 2014 and gave him the name of the Damascus pianist. ISIS set fire to his piano because he sang to change the political situation of the country and he mixed European and Syrian music.
He left Syria alone and made it to Germany crossing by feet different European countries. Once he got asylum, he was able to bring his wife and kids.
Did you study music in Syria?
My father is my teacher, he is my hero. He taught me how to play piano since I was 5 years. He took me to the Music School, where I studied for ten years. I also had a private professor. When I was older, I went to the Conservatory of both Damascus and Homs.
So, your father is a musician?
Yes, he played the violin and the piano. Besides, my mother played the accordion. My father is a music professor, music is his work.
Who are your favorite musicians?
My favorite musician is Beethoven, but I also like Rachmaninoff and Chopin. After I studied classic music for a long time, I got to know to music from all over the world. I discovered different kinds of music.
What kind of music do you like the most?
Jazz, especially Orientalist Jazz, like Ziad al Rahbani. My ideal is to mix different types of music. These past few days I have been listening to Dhafer al Youssef. He is very interesting and he is inspiring me a lot.
How did music help you back in Syria, when the war started? For whom did you play?
The music helped me a lot in Syria. I did not play for myself, but for my people. I played in the streets for children. They came near my piano. We were fighting for peace and for our rights with the music.
What did music mean to you during your journey?
It always helped me. In Yarmouk, it gave a lot of peace and hope for myself and for my family. It also helped because a lot of people know me thanks to my music and they helped me in my way to Europe, either supporting me economically or talking to me, so that I would not feel alone.
What kind of things motivated or inspired your songs?
While we were living in Syria, we fought for human rights, for freedom, for people. I started to talk about the refugees’ crisis in my music when I left Syria and I arrived in Germany. A lot of things inspired me. In Yarmouk we had to carry the water, we ate grass because we did not have food… People were dying from hunger. I talk about all these topics. All my songs are about losing the country, people. Losing hope and happiness.
How did your political situation influence your music?
I am not a political person. I am a musician. I played music and I needed to support myself, my friends and my people when everything was damaged in Yarmouk camp. I found my piano. It let me do things for the people. They liked it and I enjoyed it as well. When I put the piano in the street, I started to play against the war and with the country, with the revolution, with our identity. But, to be honest, we are Palestinian refugees living in Syria, so we have always had this political situation of refugees. I was born as a refugee and now I am a refugee again. Politics will never be separated from my songs. Music supports me and takes me to other issues besides politics, like religion.
Why did you play the piano: for yourself or to denounce the situation of thousands of refugees and Syria?
I did not have many wishes. I started to play to give hope and peace to people, against the horrible things that were happening in Syria. I was also suffering from hunger and thirst. And I did not want this life to go on and on. This is what my music was asking for: to stop the bombing and injustice. It was begging for some humanity and help. I wanted to show the world that we were there. I also talked about identity and the loss of it. I am Palestinian but I was under the siege in Syria. I should die again and again, become a refugee over and over again. My music is not classic nor romantic. It discusses these things.
How do you think that art, such as music or poetry, can change the political situation? Can it rise awareness, somehow?
Art can help a lot. Every land has its own art. When the war starts, art does as well. Art makes this world more understandable.
What would you like to do, in the future?
To be honest, I would like the situation in Syria to be better and to go back with my family, to live with my friends. I would like to live in my community again. I would like to play more and to tell about the situation Syria. People should shout against it because it is an international war. When we talk about Syria, we should include U.S. and Russia. We should decide what we will do in the future in Syria. Now it hurts me to think of my country. And I say my country because I feel more Syrian than Palestinian.
How do you think that the situation could get better in Syria?
I think that the solution is that every young person goes back to Syria and rebuilds it. They do not have to be far away, crying for the country. But, of course, for now it is impossible. If I have not left the country, I would be dead. When we do not have Assad’s regime anymore, I wish that a lot of people will come back and will work on the country.
SOURCES: interviews to both artists and UNHCR.
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