#26 The Pianist from Yarmouk (with Aeham Ahmad)

In 2014 videos of Aeham Ahmad playing the piano amid the ruins of
the Yarmouk neighborhood in Damascus went viral and were seen
around the world. Aeham and his music became a symbol of hope in
the middle of a war. In April 2015, ISIS took control of Yarmouk
and burnt Ahmad’s piano. In fear of his life, he fled thousands
of kilometres across the Mediterranean Sea and the balkan route
to Germany. Music allowed him to flee to and stay in Germany and
later reunite with his family. We talked to him about the special
connection with his blind father, how music turned from chore to
vital passion and where he was and is drawing hope from in
difficult times. We met Aeham right before his concert titled
“Connecting Cultures” together with Cornelius Hummel, a german
cellist and composer. We used the chance to interview both of
them in the second half of the interview (mixing German and
English) about the intricacies of connecting cultures, both in
music and everyday life and their learnings along their joint
musical journey. As a bonus, you’ll be able to hear one of their
compositions in our episode - enjoy!


Aehams book: The Pianist of Yarmouk (2018)


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