On the square near the Opera House, Safana Baklekh tried to perform revolutionary songs with the choir she directs. Joined by enthusiastic youth, she handed over her drum and let them chant and sing.
“It may not be an easy road,” she said. “Maybe we will have new obstacles, but before we had corruption, there was a dictatorship, there was a secret police. We still hope for the future… because we have a very, very large group of people, the opposition, artists and actors, musicians and composers and the future of Syria.”
But they don’t want to trade political authoritarianism for religious fundamentalism, al-Khadidi said.
“I hope that HTS lives up to its words of freedom, because we don’t want to be another Afghanistan or another country ruled by a certain party or rulers who force (follow) some rules.”
Determined to remain a part of Syria’s future, Green said it’s important for the arts community to act quickly.
“It does not seem that in the first week after the liberation of Syria (HTS) is ready to look for the cultural side. They have many problems, they are looking for the economy, they are looking for the creation of a new government,” he said.
“We’re trying to get organized before they start looking at the culture. That we get there first, (and we must be) united in our opinions.”
Like others here, Green experimented by mixing traditional Arabic music with electronic beats.
The culture of Islamist insurgents “is religious songs and that’s it,” he said.
“It’s a little bit backwards for us. We were here in Syria before the war and inside during the war, (when) we had so many experiments. We have evolved so much. We have so much mixed culture.’
The Syrian music scene has recovered and even flourished during the civil war – now it faces a new and unexpected challenge.
