My name is Mohammed Mir Mahmoud, I’m a guitarist from Syria, and I hold a

degree of musical educations from the Faculty of Music in Homs and study at the
Higher Institute of Music in Damascus.
I teach the guitar in many institutes. Also, sometimes I give private lessons. I
made many concerts like solo, duet, quartet, oriental band, jazz band, and now
I’m a member in Orontes Guitar Quartet.
When I started to learn the guitar, I didn’t have a professional teacher, so I had to
travel to Damascus.
After I graduated from the high school I traveled to Homs to study in the Faculty
of Music, and after 2 months, when the semester begins, war started to take
place at Homs, and the dorms was near to the hot areas. It was really dangerous
to live there.
Snipers were sitting on the top of the buildings killing everyone on the roads,
plus, the mortar shells.
To live in Syria, in the middle of the war has so much disadvantages in addition
of being always in danger.
I had to live with no electricity for more than 16 hours every day, try to study and
practice in this conditions, it is impossible.
Music was the biggest inspiration since my childhood. It takes me to places I've
never visited, inspiring me with many ideas and emotions.
It is just a beautiful language gathering all races and nations together.
So, I decided to be one of those musicians who spread peace and beauty
everywhere they come.
I see music as medium from which to share hope and healing. It restores and
celebrates life. To me, music is a story. I love stories. Their intrigue, drama,
humor, conflict, and resolution all enliven me. Can the music bring healing and
hope to others? This is my goal. Through the music, I seek to produce moments
where emotion is experienced and memory created for my audience. This is
truth, emotion lived through art experientially.
Playing music flows from my emotion. I start with how I feel and what the music
is saying to me. A dialogue occurs between myself and the music. I let this
dialogue flow rather than thinking technically. Playing the guitar, or sometimes
even singing the melody, shows me how to shape it. Even in my practicing
process, the melody initiates a story.
That’s why I love music and that’s why making concerts is very important to me,
so the situation in Syria is preventing me from doing the things I love.
I have a dream, that one day I’ll be a professional guitarist, traveling around the
world, performing concerts, and discovering new cultures and new musical styles
and bring it back to my country to introduce it to people in Syria which going to be
very helpful to my country.
Currently, I’m working with my friends to write our story as a quartet called
Orontes Guitar Quartet. Trying with them to reach the beauty of music and to
challenge everything hard to make beautiful music in this war in Syria.
I want to travel to Ecuador because I’d like to discover this beautiful country and
its nice and lovely music and I want to discover a new culture because I always
wanted to meet with new cultures and because the music is the world’s
language, so I want to learn a new language which is the Ecuadorian music.