The Damascene Rose… From Syria to Turin initiative was inspired by the Damascene Rose and was led by Maestro Misak Baghboudrian at the Swiss Hall of the Royal Palace of the Italian city, Turin on July 7, 2023 (SANA)

Building bridges across the Mediterranean basin, the “Damascene Rose… From Syria to Turin” sought to highlight the importance of Syria's cultural heritage in the Mediterranean through a musical journey inspired by the Damascene Rose led by Maestro Misak Baghboudrian in the Italian city of Turin.

Syrian and Italian musicians joined forces to create a successful musical evening titled "Ode to the Rose" encompassing several musical compositions and traditional songs that SANA, the Syrian news agency, described as "formed the living memory of peoples."

The evening took place in the Swiss Hall at the Royal Palace of the Italian city, of Turin and the evening’s program represented a journey through time and space. The musicians first presented the "Nikal" song which is the oldest Syrian musical notation in the world, dating back to the 1400s BC, approximately. The notation was discovered on a clay tablet in the ancient Syrian and Mediterranean city of Ugharit.

The event also included a performance by Opera singer Mirna Kassis who performed a number of Syriac hymns.

Visually, the scene showed historic Syria whose image has been damaged by the decade-long war launched against its people and history. The musicians wore the Damascene brocade, which is one of the ancient Syrian crafts as they performed a variety of musical compositions, some native and some not.

In a statement to SANA, Maestro Baghbudarian explained that the event aimed to tell the story of the rose, and how it impacted people from the early days in Ugharit city until more modern Fairuz music and passed through Syriac hymns.

According to the Maestro, the musicians included 4 Arab (3 Syrian and 1 Palestinian) as well as two Italian musicians all of which performed a language understood by everyone -music- and reflected the cultural, musical, and social situation in Syria "which gave us the rose and we presented it to the whole world.”