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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Four Thought

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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Series of thought-provoking talks on topics that affect culture and society.

Series of thought-provoking talks in which the speakers air their thinking on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect culture and society

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Four Thought: The Sound of Syria

The Sound of Syria

09/08/2017

BBC Radio 4 - Four Thought, The Sound of Syria

Syrian qanun virtuoso Maya Youssef on the healing power of music. Recorded at WOMAD.

Syrian qanun virtuoso Maya Youssef says music is "the opposite of death" in this powerful and poignant talk recorded in front of a live audience at the WOMAD festival.

Syrian qanun virtuoso Maya Youssef explains why - to her - music is "the opposite of death" in this powerful and poignant talk.

"I played a concert in a refugee centre in Aalborg, Denmark," she says, "and afterwards a ten-year old child approached me and said, 'Your music brought back the memory of beautiful days in Syria and the smell of lemon and jasmine.' Another woman added, 'I haven't felt happy like this for a long time'. I felt joy and grief at the same time hearing this." 

Recorded in front of a live audience at the WOMAD world music and arts festival in Wiltshire.

Producer: Richard Knight.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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