Aeham Ahmad

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Aeham Ahmad in January 2016 in Cologne

Aeham Ahmad ( Arabic أيهم أحمد, DMG Ayham Aḥmad ; also: Aeham Al Ahmad, Aiham Ahmed ; * 1988 in Jarmuk , Syria ) is a Palestinian- Syrian pianist . He gained international fame in 2014/2015 through his public appearances in the Yarmuk refugee camp - as a "pianist in the rubble" - during the civil war in Syria . Ahmad now lives as a refugee in Germany.

Life

Rudolstadt Festival 2018

Aeham Ahmad grew up as a Palestinian refugee in the Syrian refugee camp Jarmuk in Damascus . From the age of five he learned to play the piano, first at the Conservatory in Damascus, and from 2006 to 2011 he studied at the musical faculty of the Baath University in Homs . Yarmuk had been fought over by various parties in the civil war since 2013. In the course of acts of war, siege and hunger, the population decimated from 150,000 previously to 16,000 in 2015. During this time, Ahmad transported his piano on a trailer or pick-up and performed on streets and public places. Videos of these performances, often with children as an audience, were shared on social networks and his story received international media coverage.

After the refugee camp was taken by the fighters of the “ Islamic State ” in April 2015 , they destroyed his piano during an inspection. In this situation, he decided to leave his home. On August 2, he fled Jarmuk and came to Germany via Izmir , Lesbos and the Balkan route in September 2015 as a refugee, where he initially lived in a branch of the Hessian initial reception facility in Kirchheim .

The Ahmad Knecht Trio at the Rudolstadt Festival 2018

In 2015 he received the International Beethoven Prize for Human Rights, Peace, Freedom, Poverty Reduction and Inclusion  , which was awarded for the first time in Bonn - the prize was originally supposed to be awarded for the first time in 2016, but the award was brought forward to 2015 due to Ahmad's “outstanding commitment”. He made his first appearances in Germany at a concert for refugees and volunteers in Munich in October 2015 as well as a benefit concert for the benefit of the Bochum refugee aid together with the Bochum Symphony Orchestra . A further career as a classical pianist will probably be blocked by a shrapnel in his left hand.

Since 2017 he has been playing with the Edgar Knecht Trio - Edgar Knecht (piano), Rolf Denecke (double bass) and Tobias Schulte (drums). Together they developed the 2017 album Keys to Friendship , on which they a. a. Interpret German and Arabic folk songs in jazz arrangements. In 2017 they won the Creole - Global Music Contest

Ahmad is married and has two sons. His family was able to move to Germany in August 2016.

Publications

  • And the birds will sing. Me, the pianist from the rubble. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2017, ISBN 978-3-10-397317-4 .

Discography

  • Aeham Ahmad & Edgar Knecht: keys to friendship (o-tone music, 2017)

Web links

Commons : Aeham Ahmad  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sonja Zekri: Palestinian pianist Aiham Ahmed. With Bach, Chopin and Jazz against terror . In: sueddeutsche.de . April 10, 2015, accessed January 16, 2016.
  2. ↑ Information on the Aeham Ahmads Facebook page
  3. ^ A b Sonja Zekri: The pianist in the refugee camp . In: tagesanzeiger.ch . October 28, 2014.
  4. ^ Anne Barnard: From Syrian Rubble to German Concert Halls With a Piano, a Mission and Survivor's Guilt. In: The New York Times. August 6, 2016, accessed December 1, 2016 .
  5. ↑ Joachim Frank: Islamists set fire to his piano . In: ksta.de . November 27, 2015.
  6. ↑ a b The Johannes Wasmuth Society supports the honoring of Aeham Ahmed by many well-known artists. Prize in the spirit of Beethoven to Aeham Ahmad, musician from Syria . Press release from October 25, 2015.
  7. ↑ Thank you concert for refugees. Munich is freezing and dancing . In: sueddeutsche.de . October 11, 2015, accessed January 16, 2016.
  8. ↑ Verena Halt: Aeham Ahmad plays. Bochum Symphony Orchestra with a refugee on the piano . In: ruhrnachrichten.de . December 17, 2015, accessed January 16, 2016.
  9. ^ Jürgen Boebers-Süssmann: Benefit concert. “Pianist of Hope” is a guest in Bochum . In: derwesten.de . December 16, 2015, accessed January 16, 2016.
  10. ↑ Press release of the creole festival from November 14, 2017 PDF
  11. ↑ Birgitta Lamparth: Happy ending for pianist Ahmad: Family escapes danger in Syria and arrives in Wiesbaden. In: Wiesbaden Courier. August 4, 2016, accessed December 1, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Ahmad, Aeham
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ahmed, Aiham; Al Ahmad, Aeham
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Palestinian-Syrian pianist
DATE OF BIRTH 1988
PLACE OF BIRTH Yarmuk , Syria