Music is the language of the world

Subject: Music is the language of the world
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 21 Feb 24 - 06:59 AM

Lovely uplifting piece in the Guardian on how a Syrian refugee became the toast of the Irish folk scene.

I recall being at a session in Salford where musicians that had moved there as refugees and were showcasing their own culture. It was one of the best things I have ever experienced.

Good luck to Mohammad Syfkhan and all those in similar positions.

Subject: RE: Music is the language of the world
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Feb 24 - 10:58 AM

That's a wonderful story!

Seven months later, he settled in a council house in Carrick-on-Shannon in County Leitrim and started introducing himself to other musically minded people. He met Nyahh Records’ Willie Stewart in 2018, who was DJing at a local event celebrating the culture of new international communities in Country Leitrim. Syfkhan asked Stewart if he could plug his bouzouki into his mixing desk so he could play, which filled the room with adults and children doing traditional Syrian and Kurdish dances. “I was both stunned and excited,” Stewart recalls. “I immediately began to start booking him gigs.”

As part of that diaspora from Syria in 2016, do you remember when so many refugees were camped out in Calais on the French coast trying to get through the tunnel to the UK? There were musicians in that settlement who met and started performing, eventually creating a makeshift studio for recording. There is a YouTube channel and a website still up. It appears that Syfkhan is another one of those talented musicians who took a different route to flee the war.

I've set this link as a "gift" from my New York Times account, so anyone should be able to read it. Musicians in a Refugee Camp in France Record ‘The Calais Sessions’. (I probably posted this 8 years ago when it first appeared because I bought their album.)

Subject: RE: Music is the language of the world
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Feb 24 - 11:02 AM

Mohammad Syfkhan - I Am Kurdish available via Nyahh Records and on Bandcamp.

Subject: RE: Music is the language of the world
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 21 Feb 24 - 11:53 AM

Yes, I can follow all the links including the NYT one. Thanks Stilly. I am otherwise engaged just now but it looks like I have a wealth of music to listen to when I am free.

The session I saw followed an official showcase at Peel Hall on Salford University campus. My pal and I attended as we were invited by the council because of our folk involvement. The official do was OK but a bit dull so we left after a decent length of time and went in the student pub, The Crescent, across the road. About 20 minutes later all the musicians from the showcase piled in and started the best impromptu session ever! Mind you, The Crescent was also a real ale pub so maybe my memory is hazy :-D

Subject: RE: Music is the language of the world
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Feb 24 - 12:07 PM

That after party sounds like the one to be at! Lucky you! (Did you join in the performance in the pub?)

Subject: RE: Music is the language of the world
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 21 Feb 24 - 12:50 PM

I think I sang Dirty Old Town but, then again, I may have dreamt it :-D

Subject: RE: Music is the language of the world
From: Thompson
Date: 23 Feb 24 - 02:41 AM

Some lovely songs in Ladino in this documentary about the language and music of Salonika's Jews, deported en masse and mass-murded in the Nazi camps.

Subject: RE: Music is the language of the world
From: GUEST,Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Feb 24 - 12:03 PM

Great stuff, Dave. Dunno how I missed that in the Grauniad!