Posted on Oct 3, 2022
The Syrian Cassette Archive, preserving a disappearing history
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https://www.npr.org/2022/10/03/ [login to see] /the-syrian-cassette-archive-preserving-a-disappearing-history
When Yamen Mekdad was a teenager in Damascus, Syria, there was one place he'd go almost every day: his friend's cassette shop.
When Yamen Mekdad was a teenager in Damascus, Syria, there was one place he'd go almost every day: his friend's cassette shop.
The Syrian Cassette Archive, preserving a disappearing history
Posted from npr.org
Syria
Music
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 2
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."It's really hard to talk about the rich diversity and beauty of Aleppo without also talking about how devastated it was by the Syrian civil war. This would be a historical archive of great value, even if the war had not happened – but how do you think about it in the context of what's been lost?
The idea for an archival project came during the horror of watching from afar as Syria fell into war and destruction after 2011, and learning of friends and contacts suffering unthinkable trauma and displacement, even death. So I started looking at the cassettes ... with new eyes. The collection has taken on an unfortunate new gravity.
The stories behind that era and the tapes and the makers behind them also had such a largely undocumented narrative. We really felt that it was time to focus on them.
Yamen, when the Damascus that you grew up in is forever changed – the Damascus you remember is gone. What value does that add to a collection like this?
Mekdad: I was in Damascus two months ago for some time ... definitely things have changed. Definitely things are extremely hard at the moment, especially economically due to sanctions and government policies and so on. But the magical thing about that place [is] that people always persevere, they still do their thing. Within all this heartache they're still creative and loving and believing.
There are two sides to it – the archiving aspect where we're preserving but also how can we push forward and engage and stay alive and dream of how this can still be part of our future identity somehow."
..."It's really hard to talk about the rich diversity and beauty of Aleppo without also talking about how devastated it was by the Syrian civil war. This would be a historical archive of great value, even if the war had not happened – but how do you think about it in the context of what's been lost?
The idea for an archival project came during the horror of watching from afar as Syria fell into war and destruction after 2011, and learning of friends and contacts suffering unthinkable trauma and displacement, even death. So I started looking at the cassettes ... with new eyes. The collection has taken on an unfortunate new gravity.
The stories behind that era and the tapes and the makers behind them also had such a largely undocumented narrative. We really felt that it was time to focus on them.
Yamen, when the Damascus that you grew up in is forever changed – the Damascus you remember is gone. What value does that add to a collection like this?
Mekdad: I was in Damascus two months ago for some time ... definitely things have changed. Definitely things are extremely hard at the moment, especially economically due to sanctions and government policies and so on. But the magical thing about that place [is] that people always persevere, they still do their thing. Within all this heartache they're still creative and loving and believing.
There are two sides to it – the archiving aspect where we're preserving but also how can we push forward and engage and stay alive and dream of how this can still be part of our future identity somehow."
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