John Pickard
GARDENER OF ALEPPO
Bardic Edition BDE1222
Catalogue Number: BDE1222
ISMN:
For flute viola and harp. Score and parts.
On 22 August 2016, UK Channel 4 News reported the story of Abu Ward, whose name translates as ‘father of the flowers’. For five years, through the carnage of the Syrian civil war and amid the continuous bombing by Syrian and Russian forces, he and his young son Ibrahim ran the last remaining garden centre in the ruins of rebel-held Eastern Aleppo, selling plants to residents of the besieged city. Many of Abu Ward’s customers would plant their purchases in public spaces, such as roundabouts - a small piece of vibrancy and colour amid the devastation. In mid-April 2016, Abu Ward said ‘(the sound of war) is like Beethoven’s music. We have become accustomed to this music: without it we couldn’t manage! So we think of it as music now’. Six weeks after the interview, a bomb landed near the garden centre, killing Abu Ward and leaving his son, now 13 years old, an orphan. John Pickard
On 22 August 2016, UK Channel 4 News reported the story of Abu Ward, whose name translates as ‘father of the flowers’. For five years, through the carnage of the Syrian civil war and amid the continuous bombing by Syrian and Russian forces, he and his young son Ibrahim ran the last remaining garden centre in the ruins of rebel-held Eastern Aleppo, selling plants to residents of the besieged city. Many of Abu Ward’s customers would plant their purchases in public spaces, such as roundabouts - a small piece of vibrancy and colour amid the devastation. In mid-April 2016, Abu Ward said ‘(the sound of war) is like Beethoven’s music. We have become accustomed to this music: without it we couldn’t manage! So we think of it as music now’. Six weeks after the interview, a bomb landed near the garden centre, killing Abu Ward and leaving his son, now 13 years old, an orphan. John Pickard
