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The Pianist of Yarmouk

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The Pianist of Yarmouk

By: Aeham Ahmad
Narrated by: Nezar Alderazi
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Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Pianist of Yarmouk by Aeham Ahmad, read by Nezar Alderazi.

One morning on the outskirts of Damascus, two starving friends were walking through their war-ravaged city. They entered a once familiar street that had now been turned to rubble - concrete bridges towered over them like tombs and houses were turned inside out. One of them, Aeham, turned to the only comfort he had left - his piano - and composed a song of hope. It was a song that would reach beyond the rubble and bring a message of solidarity to his fellow Syrians, and all those suffering the devastation of war.

Growing up in a close family in Damascus, Aeham had everything he needed. At a young age, with the fervent support of his father, he fell in love with the piano. Yet, as the years passed the brutal civil war began to tear apart both Aeham's city and his life until he lost friends, family and eventually his home. Forced to leave his country alone and seek safety, he was left with nothing but his gifts as a musician.

This is the captivating account of Aeham's life; a gripping portrait of a man's search for peace, and of a country that has been fiercely torn apart by war.

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Critic reviews

Ahmad has created a moving and visceral account of conflict, hope and the power of music
An epic story
Suddenly opened a hidden door to reality
Aeham Ahmad is a talented and brave man of peace. Please read his book and pass it on to anyone who doesn't know or understand the plight of today's refugees
If ever confirmation that music and love will always defeat misery and tyranny was needed, Ahmad's testimony delivers it in the humblest and most moving way
All stars
Most relevant
This book offers a compelling insight into how close we live to the edge, even with education and problem-solving skills. The author begins in a quiet suburb of Damascus, facing discrimination and caring for his disabled father. But life is upended after the failed Syrian revolution engulfed Yarmouk in 2014, sweeping ordinary people into chaos. It seems like the author survived by sheer luck or divine intervention. He shares the values of many professionals I know, but his courage and integrity stand out. Although he’s better known in Germany and the Arab world, this book reveals both his and his community’s achievements and the lasting scars they bear.

Extremely moving autobiography by a cultured pianist

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A powerful insight into life in wartorn Syria. He writes sincerely and openly. the book is moving and inspiring, 100% recommend

Totally excellent

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this book became my constant companion even on the lawnmower. was able to ignore Brexit politics for a whole week and relegate it to the mildly annoying rather than a critical disaster.

an incredibly moving story

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Aeham Ahmad is the pianist in the green T-shirt in the iconic image seen world-wide. He's playing his piano wheeled out into the ruined streets of Yarmouk, the outer district of Damascus for decades the area of Palestinian refugees. His piano was later burned in front of him when Isis took over the area. He and his family endured - and survived - the siege when many around him starved to death with nothing but clover in their stomachs, others disappeared into detention, and many more were shot.

From his eventual sanctuary in Germany, Ahmad dictated his story to an accomplished ghost writer who wrote this blisteringly excellent testimony now published in many countries. The celebrity gloss now surrounding him risks diminishing his experiences, but it doesn't diminish this honest memoir which should be compulsory reading / listening.

It takes us through Ahmed's childhood with his blind father's insistence that his son should learn to play the piano and the old man's learning to tune the old piano which the family was given. Ahmad's passion for his music and his singing and his sincere belief in their healing properties are unshaken by experiences of sniper fire which cut the tendons of his fingers in one hand, killed the sparkling star-child of his street choir before his eyes, detention in state prison for attempting to escape from where he heard the constant screams of his tiny sons through the walls - and much,much more - and his final escape to Germany.

No news report brings home exactly what the destruction in Syria's war has done to the innocent civilians trapped by it. Ahmad continues to feel crippling grief for what he left behind, even though he and his wife and sons are now safe.

It's the most tender, heart-rending, shocking, mind-shaping,, indelible testimony that you will read or hear. Beautifully read..

Hear our cry

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Deep insight into a the Syrian crisis through one mans story. Worth listening all the way though

True story worth reading

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