Syria musicians play at Palmyra ruins
palmyra — Atop the ruins of Syria’s famed Palmyra theatre, recently recaptured from the Daesh group, teenage musician Angel Dayoub sings an old Arabic favourite: “We’re coming back, oh love, we’re coming back.”
The 15-year-old’s voice floats over the ancient Roman theatre, heavily damaged then abandoned by Daesh militants on Thursday as Russian-backed government forces drew near.
“A little destruction won’t stop us from coming here to play and sing on this stage, despite what happened to it,” Dayoub said.
“I want to play music and sing everywhere that has seen the expulsion of Daesh, which hates singing and banned playing instruments,” she says defiantly.
Dayoub’s rendition of Lebanese diva Fairuz’s famous song is accompanied by fellow musicians of all ages playing violins, tambourines and the oud, the pear-shaped stringed instrument beloved in the Arab world.
“We’re singing ‘We’re coming back’ because we will come back even stronger than before to rebuild Syria,” she says.
“Everyone will rebuild in their own way. We want to rebuild it with music and singing.”
The city and its ruins, designated a Unesco world heritage site in
a little destruction won’t stop us from coming here to play and sing on this stage, despite what happened to it Angel Dayoub, Teenage musician
1980, have traded hands several times during Syria’s six-year war.
Daesh first seized Palmyra in May 2015 and began to systematically destroy and loot the site’s monuments and temples during a brutal ten-month reign.
It used the ancient theatre as a venue for execution-style killings before being driven out in March 2016. The militants then recaptured Palmyra in December, blowing up the tetrapylon monument and part of the theatre.
Young musicians flocked to the theatre during a press tour organised by the army at the weekend, playing to an audience of doz- ens of Syrian and Russian soldiers.
Explosions can still be heard in the distance, as Syrian forces and their Russian allies press their offensive against Daesh north and east of Palmyra.
“Daesh wanted to ban us from the theatre, to ban us from singing, but I want to challenge it, to beat it,” says Maysaa Al Nuqari, a teenage oud player.
Dressed in a black leather jacket and combat boots, her curly hair dyed a deep red, Nuqari gestures at several nearby musicians to join the jam session. “Daesh is darkness, but music is light,” she says. —