Film
Music

Sound and Memory in Syria’s Cassette Era

Syrian Cassette Archives

Cassette kiosk, Al Thawra St., Damascus, 2006. Photo: Mark Gergis

Date and Time:: Saturday 27 June, 1–3pm and 7–8pm
Location:: Minassa

Syrian Cassette Archives preserves, researches, and shares sounds and stories from Syria's cassette era (1970s-2010). During this period, the cassette was the de facto medium for music across the country, giving voice to regional folk and shaabi artists, wedding performers, and singers from communities who had no other means of recording or distributing their work. Much of this music circulated outside official institutions, state media, and formal archives.

Across a film screening and performance, this day brings together musical networks by which cassettes are created, listened to, and cared for. Please note that tickets for both parts of this event must be booked separately below.

Salamiyah, Lady of the Land (2026), is a documentary reportage on the sonic heritage of Salamiyah, a city with a deep-rooted musical heritage. The screening will be followed by a conversation with the filmmaker. The evening performance draws on the archive, foregrounding the continuous growth of the project's scope and expanding how we can interact with and understand the collection.

Founded in 2018 and led by Mark Gergis and Yamen Mekdad from London and Damascus, SCA continues to expand through field research, digitisation, oral history interviews, and public events inside Syria and across the diaspora. The collection is freely accessible online in Arabic and English.

Salamiyah, Lady of the Land: Doors open at 12.30pm; event starts at 1pm and ends at 3pm.

Syrian Cassette Archives Performance: Doors open at 6.30pm; event starts at 7pm and ends at 8pm.

Mark Gergis is a London-based Iraqi-American producer, archivist, and researcher whose work centres on music made at the margins of official culture, across borders and diasporas. He is founder and co-director of Syrian Cassette Archives, an independent initiative preserving sounds and stories from Syria's cassette era (1970s-2010), featuring recordings from myriad Syrian communities across folk, shaabi, wedding, and devotional traditions, much of which circulated outside state media, official institutions, and formal distribution networks. The collection is freely accessible online in Arabic and English. Gergis has also compiled and produced releases on Sublime Frequencies documenting music from Syria, Iraq, Vietnam, and Cambodia, among others.

Yamen Mekdad is a Damascus/London-based Syrian artist, researcher, and community organizer whose work is rooted in radical collaboration. His practice explores the relationship between sound, geography, and the human condition, shaped by sustained engagement across Syria and its diasporas. Working across filmmaking, archiving, field recording, radio, and grassroots cultural organizing, Mekdad has co-founded initiatives including Dandana, Sawt of the Earth, Makkam, and Sadaa Sound Syndicate. He is the co-founder and Creative Director of Syrian Cassette Archives and Rock Paper Scissors, and the co-founder and audio curator of the Syrian Arts and Culture Festival. Most recently, his essay-film Shapeshifting premiered at Sheffield DocFest, reflecting on the fractured Syrian psyche in the two years preceding the regime's collapse through underground music scenes in Syria and across the Syrian diaspora in Europe.