San Francisco Classical Voice

most people back home think syria is a dangerous hot-bed of terrorist activity these days but it's really not (at least as far as such activities within syria are concerned). this month there've even been a few signs of western-accented musical normalcy.

last night, the spanish embassy sponsored a kandinsky concert at the "hafiz al-asad national library" in damascus. the embassy imported a trio from madrid — cello, piano, violin — that played 3 kandinsky pieces and a short spanish encore. about 100 syrians, old and college/grad school age, attended. i went with a dutch diplomat friend, who sat next to a bearded muslim brother who told her he taught "sharia" (islamic) law and then immediately tried to make the moves on her ("is he — ie, me — your husband? can i see you again? can i have a visa?"). my friend diplomatically put him off with an apt arabic proverb: "a chance encounter is worth a thousand appointments" and he wandered off speechless.

next to me was a middle-aged, bespectacled syrian business prof. who noisily fingered his prayer beads throughout the concert, to the annoyance of a serious-looking grad-student-type in front of us. after the concert i asked the prof. if he enjoyed western classical music. "yes, it relaxes me," he said in Arabic and again in English.

yo-yo ma will play a concert in the ancient citadel in aleppo on November 6. the occasion is the annual agha khan architecture awards. i'm told the japanese are funding his trip. it's a wonderful locale — outdoors, perched high on hill surrounded by an ancient moat, overlooking the old medina, rich with history and drama. i'm going to try to go.

John Christopher Stevens ©2001 , all rights reserved