Collection Spotlight: Revolt in Syria mei.edu - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mei.edu Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Yasmin El-Beih 22 December 2020
For years, Hamam Khairy’s grandfather worked the land with his siblings and children just outside Aleppo, Syria, singing traditional
tarab folk songs along to the local radio station as they picked cucumbers, aubergines and tomatoes. To keep the then-infant Hamam quiet, they sat him in a rubber sack and kept the radio next to his ear so he wouldn’t cry. For Aleppines, music is in our blood – we can’t help it For Aleppines, music is in our blood – we can’t help it, recalled Khairy, who is now a tarab vocalist himself. This millennia-old musical genre is popular across the Arabic-speaking world, and while many of the best-known tarab musicians are from Egypt or Lebanon, nowhere is it more revered than in the hearts and minds of Syrians – especially in Aleppo, the cradle of the genre.