- event type:WOMEX 25 Conference Session
- date:25 Oct 2025
- time:15:00 - 15:45
- city/area:Tampere
- venue:Conference Room 4
- country:Finland
- event posted by:Piranha Arts
Links
Chaired by
Georgie Pope (UK), MARSM;
with
Mark Gergis (USA/UK), Syrian Cassette Archives
Yamen Mekdad (Syria/UK), Syrian Cassette Archives
In an era of streaming giants, artificial intelligents and digital rights, why does this humble cassette retain such magic? If you´re not already a fan of these analogue packages of oral history, it´s time to enter the world of the recipients of this year´s WOMEX Professional Excellence Award: Yamen Mekdad and Mark Gergis. Join them for this special session exploring the Syrian Cassette Archive, a ´self-portrait´of Syria from the 1970s to the early 2000s. Their collection covers folk, classical, pop, religious, birdsong, spoken-word comedy and poetry and include work by Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians, Armenians as well as non-Syrians who live within the country.
Through excerps of musical and oral recordings and lively stories we´ll be offered a fascinating insight into the soundworld of the Levant. Whose stories are told? Which tapes make the collection? And who is it all for? Yamen and Mark will be in conversation with ethnomusicologist and music promoter Georgie Pope.