At the Damascus opera house, youths in jeans, old gentlemen in suits and ties and women in long-sleeved dresses and headscarves cheer and applaud the two performers of Arabic love songs.
As the audience sways to the music, one man twirling a tissue in each hand, the five-year war that has crippled their country is all but forgotten, at least for the evening.
"We come here to relax, calm our nerves and leave the world behind us," said Sawsan Nabulsi, 52, who owns a beauty salon in the Syrian capital. She was at the concert with her husband and two friends.