‘The war started in my homeland in 2011. From that point on making music was no longer a choice, it was a crucial means to express and come to terms with intense feelings of loss and sadness from seeing my people suffer and my land destroyed. On a hot summer’s afternoon in London in 2012 I was watching the news. I felt overwhelmed, as if I was going to explode, so I held my qānūn and ‘Syrian dreams’ came out of me. That was the very first piece of music I wrote’.  Virtuoso Syrian qanun player Maya Youssef is a regular on the BBC and was featured at the BBC Proms at The Royal Albert Hall amongst other prestigious venues and festivals.

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