This picture might not look like something special, but the moment reminded me of why music can be so incredible beautiful:
This is what happened:
This weekend I had a Syrian refugee family to stay in my house. I do this sometimes so they can get away from the big refugee camp, so they can have a quite family weekend. The father of the family turned out to be a professional music player in Syria. Unfortunately, after the government, the rebels, ISIS and the Russians destroyed his town, he was out of work, and fled to Europe. He told me he had not played for 3 years and he really missed it. I borrowed an Ipad with some music apps (module and iM1) on it and a 2,5 octave mini keys midi keyboard and he was playing all weekend, being really, really happy. Sometimes his daughters would join in singing traditional Syrian songs. they did not sing particularly good, but it was a truly magical moment.
Me and my friends are trying to help him make some more music. We put some money together and bought a small second had laptop, and somebody donated a pair of headphones. Inmusic donated a b-stock keystation 49 midi keyboard. I am in contact with focusrite and hope that they can help me with a soundcard. I am also trying to get Korg and Pianoteq to help us with some music software. I have contacted Behringer for a small pair of powered speakers, so more people in the refugee camp can enjoy him.
With us here focussing so much on gear (without that being a bad thing), it is nice to be reminded of how powerful, comforting, binding and straight on beautiful music can be sometimes.
I was really touched by this. And being touched is good. If you are as well, maybe you can do something locally for refugees, or your local community centre. You could of course contact me to support me and my friends helping Abdessalam.
But most importantly, don't forget to enjoy music; with your friends, your family or just by yourself!
This is what happened:
This weekend I had a Syrian refugee family to stay in my house. I do this sometimes so they can get away from the big refugee camp, so they can have a quite family weekend. The father of the family turned out to be a professional music player in Syria. Unfortunately, after the government, the rebels, ISIS and the Russians destroyed his town, he was out of work, and fled to Europe. He told me he had not played for 3 years and he really missed it. I borrowed an Ipad with some music apps (module and iM1) on it and a 2,5 octave mini keys midi keyboard and he was playing all weekend, being really, really happy. Sometimes his daughters would join in singing traditional Syrian songs. they did not sing particularly good, but it was a truly magical moment.
Me and my friends are trying to help him make some more music. We put some money together and bought a small second had laptop, and somebody donated a pair of headphones. Inmusic donated a b-stock keystation 49 midi keyboard. I am in contact with focusrite and hope that they can help me with a soundcard. I am also trying to get Korg and Pianoteq to help us with some music software. I have contacted Behringer for a small pair of powered speakers, so more people in the refugee camp can enjoy him.
With us here focussing so much on gear (without that being a bad thing), it is nice to be reminded of how powerful, comforting, binding and straight on beautiful music can be sometimes.
I was really touched by this. And being touched is good. If you are as well, maybe you can do something locally for refugees, or your local community centre. You could of course contact me to support me and my friends helping Abdessalam.
But most importantly, don't forget to enjoy music; with your friends, your family or just by yourself!
