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)