Syrian singer Asala Nasri returned to her audience in Damascus on Thursday evening with a concert at the Fayhaa Sports Hall, ending an absence of about 16 years from performing concerts in Syria, linked to her opposition to the rule of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Asala appeared moved as she took to the stage and wept to the applause of those present before opening her programme with the song ‘Raise Your Head High..
Asala explains what her return to Damascus means
You are a free Syrian’. The audience repeated the song’s words and joined her in singing as the interaction continued throughout the evening. At the start of the concert, Asala spoke about the meaning of her return and said she did not want to reduce that period to the number of years she had been absent, because she had not felt like a stranger while living in Egypt.
I do not want to say that I was away for 15 years. I was not living in exile; I was in Egypt, which is also a homeland
She also expressed how much she had awaited the return, saying: ‘How much I dreamed of this meeting, and how much I wished that we would meet after beginning the process of recovery.’ She stressed the role of creativity in restoring life, saying that ‘recovery can only be achieved through art and music’. The concert was held under the title ‘Asala’s Return’, before a large audience that included several ministers and officials, as well as figures from Syria’s artistic, cultural and media circles.
‘Asala’s Return’ concert brings together the public and the cultural community
The Syrian satellite channel broadcast the event live, and it continued until midnight. Those attending included actors Jihad Abdou, Wafaa Mosلي, Yara Sabri, Nawar Balloul and Maher Salibi, along with actress and People’s Assembly member Rozina Ladqani. Asala’s mother, her daughter Sham al-Dhahabi and her granddaughter were also present, as was her husband, Iraqi poet Faiq Hassan.
At the concert, Asala performed selections inspired by Syrian heritage, as well as works from her new Syrian album, which contains 14 songs drawn from the musical heritage of several regions across the country. The songs include the heritage of Damascus, Aleppo, Hauran, al-Suwayda, the coast, the Jazira and the Badia, in addition to a song in Kurdish.
The evening combined those works with a number of Asala’s well-known songs, including ‘Akthar’, ‘Asifa’, ‘Samehtak Ktir’, ‘Ala Dalouna Ya Mahla al-Dunya’, ‘Sual Basit’, ‘Bent Akaber’ and ‘Shukran’. The audience sang and applauded along with the artist, while some attendees appeared moved during parts of the programme. The audience also collectively repeated the words of her songs.
New Syrian album featuring the heritage of several regions
During the concert, Syrian Culture Minister Mohammed Yassin Saleh honoured Asala and introduced her to the audience as ‘the daughter of al-Sham’, saying the occasion represented her return to her country and audience. He said: ‘Asala’s return is the return of every sincere Syrian and every free Syrian to their country.’
Saleh referred to Asala’s artistic career and her presence outside Syria, saying that she had left her mark and made an impact everywhere, and that she had returned to leave that mark in her own country as well. He described her return to Damascus as ‘a victory for the oppressed over the oppressor’ and said it embodied ‘the freedom we have always celebrated in song’, stressing that the Culture Ministry’s doors would remain open to all forms of culture and creativity.
Culture Minister honours Asala and describes her return as a victory for the oppressed
Asala, 57, arrived in Damascus at the beginning of the week accompanied by several members of her family, amid a welcome from Syria’s current authorities. Before she took to the stage, a video was shown on a giant screen reviewing moments from her career and her positions over the past years.
The presentation included rare footage from the beginnings of her artistic career and her first television interviews, as well as scenes of her with her late father, musician Mustafa Nasri. It also included footage of the protests that accompanied the Syrian revolution and earlier clips in which Asala announced her support for it. Asala’s last appearance on a Syrian stage was in 2010, when she performed at the Damascus Opera House, after which her artistic appearances in the capital came to a halt in the following years.
After the Syrian revolution began in 2011, she announced her support for calls to end Bashar al-Assad’s rule and refused to take part in events supporting the former regime. The artist later came under attack from media outlets loyal to the authorities at the time, while the Syrian Artists’ Syndicate announced that it had expelled her from its membership.
After the concert, the hashtag ‘Asala’s Return’ topped Syrian and Arab engagement on social media. Some users celebrated her opposition to the former regime and her return to her homeland, while others criticised the level of acclaim surrounding the evening.
