Saturday 9 Mar 2019
“The act of playing music is the opposite of death, it’s a life and hope affirming act” says Syrian musician Maya Youssef. Born in Damascus, Maya is a virtuoso on the qanun (the traditional Syrian 78-stringed plucked zither) and combines her extraordinary musical gifts with a generosity of outlook, warmth, humour and optimism. Now based in the UK, she released her critically acclaimed debut album Syrian Dreams in 2017 and has just won one of the prestigious Songlines Magazine Awards.
