“During the first two or three years we were having thoughts that maybe if we open our eyes, Edinburgh and this feeling of safety will all have just been a dream.”
This was how composer and pianist Saber Bamatraf, 37, described his arrival in Scotland’s capital amid the Covid pandemic in 2020.
Despite arriving in what he described as a “ghost town” with the city in the grip of lockdown, it was a place of safety compared to the horror of war he and his wife Shatha Altowai – an artist – had come from. It was a gift they could scarcely believe they had been given.
A few years earlier, shortly after their marriage in August 2014, the Yemeni civil war broke out when the Houthi forces took over the capital city of Sanaa where they lived.
In 2015, Bamatraf and Altowai’s home was hit by a Saudi-led coalition airstrike which displaced them for two years.
Throughout this tragedy, the couple had begun to share their music and art at public events, exhibitions and performances.
“It was great practicing art in war because you feel like you are healing the wounds of people,” Bamatraf told The National.
“It was a response to the situation and what was happening around us. It was a safe place for us to just live the moment and feel away from the politics and horrors of war.
“We were displaced for about two years because our house got destroyed by an airstrike and we went through a lot of troubles, but all the way through art was our constant. The most engagement we made in society was when our house was destroyed."
But when they finally were able to return home, Bamatraf described how it had become “unbearable” to stay. As the media became more interested in the couple’s story, they began receiving death threats from the Houthis in 2018.
“That way we couldn’t practice art anymore and that meant we couldn’t do anything with purpose and that’s why we ended up in Scotland,” he said.
Their arrival in 2020 may have been jarring given the Covid pandemic that was ongoing, but they have cherished the sense of safety and understanding Scotland has given them.
“Scotland means a lot, it is my home now. I love it, especially Edinburgh,” Bamatraf said.
“During the first two or three years we were having thoughts that maybe if we open our eyes, Edinburgh and this feeling of safety will all have just been a dream, and we’ll open our eyes and we’ll be back in Yemen. But it’s not a dream, it’s Edinburgh, and that really stayed with us for the first three years.
“Now it’s reality and not a dream anymore.
“The sense of safety when we first arrived, we felt like it was a shock, because in Yemen we were in survival mode.”
Altowai, 35, added: "I find life in Scotland peaceful and full of adventure. Every day I learn something new and share something of my own.
"It is a green, fresh, calm, and welcoming environment, with people who are kind and genuinely friendly — the land I have chosen as my home.”
Bamatraf has performed at major festivals and institutions such as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, University College London and the University of Edinburgh, while Altowai has worked as an artist in residence at Art27scotland. She is now a freelance artist.
“Art is part of the mechanism of how we feel connection with our previous home and to make sense of our new environment,” Bamatraf said.
“Art helps us a lot and most of our music and art since arrival reflects these feelings we had in the past and how we compare it to the situation we live in now.”
Reflecting on life in Scotland, Bamatraf said he has loved every minute of contributing to public life.
He said: “It [Edinburgh and Scotland] means peace and it is my hope. It’s the first city and country that has accepted me as I am.
“It’s a very welcoming city and I just love being part of it and love to contribute to every aspect of it.”
