Assala returns to Damascus after 15 years away, in a comeback that goes beyond a concert and raises a broader question about the kind of life taking shape in Syria today.
The singer, who left the country after openly supporting the uprising against Bashar al-Assad’s regime, is returning to a Syrian stage in a very different political moment. But her comeback has also triggered a religious campaign calling for her concerts to be cancelled under slogans condemning them as “sinful gatherings,” with posters promoting the shows reportedly torn down in Damascus.
The controversy goes beyond Assala herself. After years of killing, detention, war, and repression, Syrians are also seeking space to breathe, and the freedom to choose what they listen to, how they live, and how they celebrate.
The end of decades of political repression remains incomplete if it is replaced by a new form of social or religious control over people’s cultural and personal lives.
