Aeham Ahmad is a Syrian/Palestinian who lived in Yarmouk, a suburb of Damascus Syria while the war raged in 2014/2015. He is a classically-trained pianist and a composer. Before the war, Yarmouk was a thriving home to nearly 200,000 people, many of whom are now either dead, injured or have fled the violence. Yarmouk was the site of intense fighting between the Syrian government and armed opposition groups, such as ISIS, it became known as the Death Camp. In spite of the risk of injury or death from shelling and sniper fire, Aeham sang and played in the streets of Yarmouk.
He did this, he said, in solidarity with the Syrian people who remained in the city, to bring hope, and to bring attention to their struggle for survival. Aeham interweaves classical references into his music that are, he wrote, allusions of hope, with f-minor that refers to ‘the devil’ or ‘depression’. In composing ENDS and making certain symbolic visual decisions, he seems to have prophesied the symbolic death of his beloved piano, that was burnt by members of ISIS, as Haram (forbidden). On the side of the piano is painted the cartoon figure of Handala, the boy who became a symbol of Palestinian defiance.
Like Handala, Aeham is defiant. He played his music to represent and support the spirit and resistance of the people of Yarmouk. Handala displays a resolute nature and determination to survive beyond all odds. The aesthetic decisions of painting his black piano white, and the Handala cartoon, can be seen as ‘marking’ a resistance to violence and repression that his playing in the streets clearly shows. His performance signifies an end, mourning for what was, and hope for peace and reconciliation to come.
See also: https://www.aeham-ahmad.com/en/
This is a video about the war in Syria based on a photograph by Bassam Khabieh and music composed and played by Aeham Ahmad in the streets of Yarmouk.
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