Musical Postcards connected in 2016 young displaced musicians to young musicians who are part of the Amsterdam Grachtenfestival (Canal Festival), a classical music festival that takes place every year in several venues in Amsterdam.
Ghiyath Hamada is 13 years old and comes from the city Homs. He and his mother fled to Egypt and took the boat to Europe. He currently lives in the town Ebeltoft in Denmark. The best thing his mother could do was to buy Ghiyath a cello, so he is able to make music again, like he did in Homs. He hopes to become a musician one day.
Vincent van Amsterdam commissioned Maxim Shalygin to make a composition for him that is an answer to Ghiyath's Musical Postcard. Maxim made a very dramatic and dark composition that has the title S.O.S. If you watch and listen to this Musical Postcard exchange you will know why.
Ghiyath Hamada
“The best thing what my mother could do in Denmark, was to buy me a cello, so I could play again like I did in Homs.”
