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Ammar Haj Ahmad reads Aeham Ahmad’s dramatic account of how he risked his life under siege in Damascus to defy the Syrian regime with his music.

Newly married, living in a comfortable Damascus suburb and working as a music teacher, Aeham’s life is turned upside down by the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2012.

When they are bombed out of their apartment, Aeham and his family take refuge in their music shop in the ramshackle district of Yarmouk. But soon the rebel Free Syrian Army takes control and President Assad’s forces are determined to bomb, shoot and starve them out, regardless of the plight of the ordinary residents.

When the siege began, the power was turned off and food prices exploded. Soon, people started dying of hunger. Over these five episodes, Aeham tells how he fought to keep his family alive and how, in his anger and frustration, he eventually pushed his piano onto the streets and brought music to the desperate people of Yarmouk.

However, when ISIS take over he has to make the agonizing choice between staying in Syria and certain death or making the perilous journey to Europe alone and abandoning his family.

‘The Pianist of Yarmouk’ is read by Ammar Haj Ahmad, who trained as an actor before fleeing the conflict in Syria. He starred in the critically acclaimed play The Jungle, set in the notorious Calais refugee camp, in London and New York.

Written by Aeham Ahmad.

Omnibus of five parts.

Abridged and produced by Jane Greenwood.

A Loftus Media production for Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 4, first broadcast in 2019.

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