Â鶹Éç

Ammar Haj Ahmad reads Aeham Ahmad’s dramatic account of how he risked his life playing music under siege in Damascus.

It’s November 2014 and the Damascus suburb of Yarmouk has been starved of food and medicine by President Assad’s forces for two years. Then, the worst happens and ISIS fighters take over. Music is forbidden under their severe Islamic code and Aeham’s attempt to smuggle his beloved piano out of Yarmouk goes badly wrong:

"Suddenly it all happened very fast. The ISIS guys went into a nearby shed and came back with two plastic bottles. They were filled with a brown liquid. I slowly backed away from the checkpoint. The men started pouring the liquid over our pushcart. Then, one of the men flicked open his lighter. I saw a flame shooting out. I turned and ran."

"Very quickly the news about ISIS burning my piano had gone around the world. Eyewitnesses had posted about it on Facebook. Media across the world, from Los Angeles to Tokyo, reported it. Even CNN aired a segment about it. If these ISIS guys saw any of this, they’d kill me."

Aeham has no choice – he has to escape from Yarmouk and get out of Syria. But should he risk the lives of his wife and two small children by taking them with him?

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

Written by Aeham Ahmad
Read by Ammar Haj Ahmad
Abridged and produced by Jane Greenwood
A Loftus Media production for Â鶹Éç Radio 4