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‘Music is the language of the world’: how a Syrian refugee became the toast of the Irish folk scene

Mohammad Syfkhan trained as a surgical nurse but fled Syria after Islamic State killed one of his sons. Settled in Ireland, he is now creating vital cross-cultural bonds

A 57-year-old father of five whose music is a thrilling mix of electrified Kurdish, Arabic and Turkish traditional songs, covers and originals, Syfkhan arrived in Ireland as part of a refugee settlement scheme in December 2016 with his teacher wife, Huda, and young daughter, Noor. He later asked them to play on his album; Reidy learned about his use of precise glissandi – glides between notes – and the 24-tone Arab tone tuning system, calling their collaboration “intense, musically enriching and joyful”. Concertina artist Cormac Begley, singer-songwriter Ciaran Rock and Alan Woods of the Traditional Music Archive also get mentioned warmly in Syfkhan’s email (“I have met wonderful musicians”).

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