Music alongside bullets in Damascus streets

"Wamdha" is a project for love and peace where a group of Syrian youth are trying to challenge war through their music,"Wamdha" or the the Blink  is to stop the tiring "music" of war and the bullets sounds, by their touching and tender songs in the middle of Damascus streets, not Caring about barriers and security threats. People gathered around that group of enthusiastic youth which proof that Syrians still love life and music. When the group started singing “Helwa ya Baladi” in al-Sha’alan street, people sang with them, with tears in their eyes tried hard to hold.

 Another performance by the group took place in al-Salehia Market, Damascus center, where they sang “sham, we cried” as well as the well known song “Mawtini”

What draws attention to Salehia performance that a girl of the group wore a mask in a gesture to the chemical attack, and at the end of the show, all the group wore masks in a remarkable challenge to the regime.

In the "Chemical Wamda" performance, there was children dancing and singing, as if the group wanted to draw attention to children’s pain and the price they pay in this war.

There is no doubt that “Wamda'' project is a civilized attempt in war time, but why and what made the regime turn the blind eye to these youth and their performance in Damascus streets, which are very well know to have become military barracks. One explanation is that regime tried to appear as if it respects freedom of art and music, contrary to what has been happening in other areas ruled by the opposition, and what support this interpretation is that “Wamda” was licensed by the "Ministry of National Reconciliation" which the regime has founded in a try to cover up its crimes against Syria and the Syrians.

The Original Arabic Article; Translation by Yusra Ahmed