In the square outside the opera house, Safana Bakleh was trying to perform a revolutionary song with the choir she was conducting. Accompanied by enthusiastic young people, she handed over drums and encouraged them to sing.
“It’s probably not an easy road,” she said. “Maybe new obstacles will arise, but we have had corruption, we have had dictatorships, we have had secret police. We are still very hopeful about the future, because we have many, many people. They are the opposition, artists, He is an actor, musician, composer and the future of Syria.”
But they do not want to replace political authoritarianism with religious fundamentalism, Al Hadidi said.
“I hope HTS sticks to their word about freedom, because we don’t want to become another Afghanistan or another country ruled by a certain party or ruler and forced to follow some rules.”
Mr Green, determined to remain part of Syria’s future, said it was important for the arts community to act quickly.
“In the first weeks of the liberation of Syria, it seems (HTS) is not willing to explore the cultural aspect. They have a lot of problems, they are looking for the economy, they are looking for the formation of a new government.” he said
“We’re trying to organize ourselves before they start seeing the culture, so we have to get there first and be unified in our opinions.”
Like others here, Green has been experimenting with mixing traditional Arabic music with electronic beats.
The Islamist rebels’ culture is “religious songs and that’s it,” he said.
“This is a bit behind the curve for us. We were here in Syria before the war, we were inside during the war and (then) we experimented so much. We evolved so much. We had so many mixed cultures. “I have it.”
Syria’s music scene revived and even thrived during the civil war. Now Syria faces a new and unexpected test.
