Falmouth and Penryn Welcome Refugee Families is holding a series of events next week with the Syrian born musician, Maya Youssef.

The "Queen of Qanun," Maya Youssef visiting Falmouth this week during her current UK tour launching her latest album, Finding Home.

Maya is a virtuoso of the 78-stringed Middle Eastern plucked zither. Her intense and thoughtful music is rooted in the Arabic classical tradition but forges pathways into jazz, Western classical and Latin styles.

It explores the emotional and healing qualities of music.

For Maya, "the act of playing music is the opposite of death and destruction; it is a life-and hope affirming act and an antidote to what is happening, not only in Syria, but in the whole world."

Maya will be playing solo at the Cornish Bank in Falmouth on Wednesday, 4 May, 19:30 as part of their "deep listening series" of gigs. This will also give the audience an intimate setting to listen to Maya's storytelling.

The Trebah Garden concert, Friday, May 6 at 8:30pm will be held in the amphitheatre with Maya's entire ensemble, so a different musical experience from Wednesday's concert.

The Friday evening concert is preceded by a mouthwatering Feast prepared by Welcome's resident chefs, Lilyan and Rafi, who are also two of the group's volunteer interpreters.

Additionally, Safaa Al Qaysi will be demonstrating her family recipes for Syrian Baklava at a ticketed event on the Friday afternoon-2-3pm in the Trebah kitchen.

Safaa will present the demonstration with Ketty Savary, one of our volunteer interpreters, who shares a passion for cuisine from her native Lebanon. A chance to taste the Baklava with a cup of tea and chat with Safaa and Ketty follows the cooking demonstration.

Safaa is one of the members of the first Syrian family Welcome resettled to Falmouth in December 2019. They have since welcomed another family in June 2021.

The charity is part of the government’s Community Sponsorship resettlement scheme. Got to resetuk.org for more details.

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Maya will also be conducting musical and storytelling workshops in the two primary schools where the two family's children attend. This will be a boost for the kids and a great way to share some of their Syrian culture with their new Cornish friends.

The charity is continuing to raise funds in order to help support our two families and to extend its outreach to other refugees who are settling in Cornwall.

Go to falmouthandpenrynwelcome.org for more details.