Music isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when most people think of Syria, but the Levantine country boasts a vibrant underground scene that might surprise you. In fact, it’s the subject of Boiler Room’s latest two-part series, Sawt Syria (Sounds of Syria). Created in collaboration with Sadaa Sound Syndicate– a cross-border group of self-organized Syrians who are attuned to the agential possibilities of sound–, the British online broadcaster has unveiled a captivating journey into the club and underground music scenes of Syria and its diaspora in Europe.
Originally filmed in the summer of 2022, this series marks the first-ever spotlight on the most compelling Syrian DJs and producers, showcasing contemporary culture, eclectic shaabi sounds, and rap. The initial segment, Motherland (Damascus), unfolds in the heart of the nation’s capital. A six-hour broadcast, accompanied by a video essay, delves deep into the worlds and practices of various dynamic artists.
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The second segment, Exile (Europe), takes viewers on a journey between Amsterdam and Berlin. Featuring a seven-hour broadcast with 14 artists, along with a reflective video essay, it explores the evolution of their artistic expressions amidst their diasporic realities.
Conceived and produced by Syrians for Syrians with editorial help from Sadaa Sound Syndicate, “Sawt Syria is a meditation on the Syrian condition forged in over a decade of still ongoing war and dispersion, of the abjection and joy that shape that condition, and the place of music in reckoning and striving for life,” commented Sadaa Sound Syndicate. “Since its inception, this project has been difficult to put out into a world where genocide is ongoing in Palestine and where turmoil persists in Syria and the region. Our work today and everyday is geared towards a Syria that is ours and a Free Palestine.”
