Syrians sing songs of victory, revolution a month after Assad’s overthrow

A packed concert hall in Damascus came alive this week with cheers as Wasfi Maasarani, a renowned singer and symbol of the Syrian uprising, performed in celebration of “Syria’s victory.”

The concert on Wednesday marked Maasarani’s return to Syria after 13 years of exile. While living in Los Angeles, Maasarani had continued to support Syria’s uprising through his music, touring the US and Europe.

The concert organised by the Molham Volunteering Team, a humanitarian organisation founded by Syrian students, also marked a month since a lightning insurgency toppled former President Bashar al-Assad.

Revolutionary songs like those by Maasarani and Abdelbasset Sarout – a Syrian singer and activist who died in 2019 – played a key role in rallying Syrians during the nearly 14-year uprising-turned civil war starting in 2011.

Many opponents of Assad’s rule, like Maasarani, had fled the country and were unsure if they would ever be able to come back.

In the dimly lit concert hall, the crowd’s phone lights flickered like stars, swaying in unison with the music as the audience sang along, some wiping away tears. The crowd cheered and whistled and many waved the new Syrian flag, the revolutionary flag marked by three stars. A banner held up in the hall read, “It is Syria the Great, not Syria the Assad.”

One of Maasarani’s best known songs is “Jabeenak ’Ali w Ma Bintal,” which he first sang in 2012, addressing the Free Syrian Army. It was a coalition of defected Syrian military personnel and civilian fighters formed in 2011 to oppose Assad during the civil war.