Damon Albarn bids to reunite Syrian orchestra as part of WWI centenary

It will be a major logistical challenge – but organisers are confident they will be able to reunite more than 50 Syrian musicians for a series of concerts with Damon Albarn, to celebrate the “strength and joy” of the war-torn country’s culture.

The ambitious project would reunite the orchestra and chorus of the Syrian National Orchestra for Arabic Music nearly eight years after they first performed with Albarn in Damascus. The project was announced on Wednesday as part of the 2016 UK arts programme marking the centenary of the first world war.

One of the organisers, Ian Birrell, who co-founded the Africa Express music project with Albarn, said most of the musicians were still in Syria while others were in Europe and the US at various stages of seeking asylum. The hope is to reunite about 30 members of the orchestra and 20 members of the choir for concerts in June.

“It is organisationally challenging,” said Birrell. “It is very hard to get visas for Syrians and some don’t have passports because they have had to flee and are seeking asylum.

“Some are in Syria or neighbouring countries, and to get a visa you’ve got to go to Beirut and get accepted – and obviously European countries are cautious. It is a problem, but we are optimistic. We would not be presenting it if we thought we could not get visas.”

The Syrian National Orchestra for Arabic Music, under the leadership of Issam Rafea, first performed with Albarn in 2008. They later appeared on the album White Flag by Albarn’s group Gorillaz, and joined the band on a world tour which included Syria and Lebanon.

Albarn told Radio 4’s Today programme that when he first visited Syria, to make music with Rafea, he found “an extraordinary and beautiful country”.

He said: “Then Syria changed, almost overnight. Since then I’ve watched from a distance and felt utterly helpless, wondering about all the lovely people I got to know.”

Albarn said the orchestra created a miraculous sound. “There’s a whole choir, there’s strings, there’s soloists, there’s amazing percussion,” he said. “It’s a really, really dynamic and joyous sound, and it’s stayed with me for all these years. I’m really excited to be able to somehow share that with people.

“The whole point of this is to get the orchestra back together, to get them working again … just giving some kind of alternative to the prism of the news, which is entirely a negative thing.”