Chords From Behind Bars: How Music Helped Four Syrian Men Survive Sednaya Prison

The music was provided by an oud: The base was a cooking pot, the neck created out of wood from a box of fruit, the strings made from sock threads and the pegs from fruit stems. The musicians were four Syrian men who had been through hell and survived because of their music.  Their 10-song concert recently held in the Ruby Lounge of the Rubenstein Arts Center was one of the most inspiring performances of the year at Duke. Sponsored by the Duke Center for Middle East Studies and the Provost’s Initiative on the Middle East, the four Syrian men were former prisoners of the…