From the 1970s through the early 2000s, cassettes served as Syria’s principal medium for music and spoken word. The Syrian Cassette Archives, founded in 2018 by Mark Gergis and Yamen Mekdad, grew from a personal market-stall collection into an online repository featuring 400+ digitized cassettes across folk, classical, pop, religious music, spoken word, poetry, comedy, and birdsong.
The collection reflects contributions from Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians, Armenians, and others, while the site adds interviews, articles, and mixtapes for context. The project preserves at-risk recordings threatened by war, decay, and censorship, safeguarding Syria’s cultural memory; WOMEX will recognize this work with the 2025 Professional Excellence Award.
The Professional Excellence Award honors individuals, groups, or organizations whose work shapes the music field over time. Criteria extend beyond artistry to cultural significance, advocacy, activism, lifetime contributions, and commercial success, all grounded in artistic integrity. Past recipients include On the Move, Global Music Match, and Festival au Désert (Mali).
Author: World Music Central News Room
World music news from the editors at World Music Central