Interests

Gifts from DAMASCUS

SUSAN MCDONALD

There are moments in life in which inspiration comes fluttering,

beating against one's consciousness to be released, tapping desperately and incessantly until one cannot see, hear or think of anything other than freeing the trapped incandescence

to fly flashing into

the world,

swooping

and

soaring

in exultation.

That is what music is

all about.

Soul After Midnight

Rabee Said Ahmad

Rabee was living in Syria when he composed this piece, writing it in the dead of night by candlelight because there was no electricity. He has one of the strongest creative voices I have ever encountered. He represents so many brilliant artists who are trapped in conflict regions. They deserve to be heard.

I have included commentary from other Syrians on what music means to them. Their faces are hidden to protect their identities.

 Concierto de Aranjuez

Joaquin Rodrigo

This piece has always moved me, not only because I find the music exquisitely beautiful but because the story behind it is so powerful.

When the composer, Joaquin Rodrigo, was a young man, his pregnant wife became so desperately ill that the doctors thought she was dying. Powerless and heartbroken, Rodrigo poured all of his grief and love for her into the piece. You'll notice that either the guitar or the orchestra plays chords behind the melody. The chords represent her heartbeat, and by keeping them going he is keeping her alive.

Against all odds, she survived. I like to believe it was because of the music.

I play it here with the Central Texas Medical Orchestra in a benefit for Remember the River. We used the proceeds to provide instruments to musicians in Mosul after theirs were destroyed by ISIS.

Samayee Shatt Araban

Jamil Bek Arr. Muhammad Zaza

Ramy Jany Gorbil has been my assistant and right hand man in Iraqi Kurdistan since I first met him in 2013. He helped start the Remember the River music school in Diana Iraq, even as ISIS forces drew ever closer. He has recently accepted a scholarship to continue his studies in Hungary.