On the Tracks of Music
A journey of discovery, documentation, and celebration of folk music in the Levant and Mesopotamia. This journey took a year and a half and began with field research conducted by researchers in eleven communities in Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. Following the research, there was a stage of music training where more than eighty musicians participated in workshops to learn the musical genres documented in the research, under the guidance of professional folk musicians and music experts. About fifty-four people also participated in workshops to learn how to make traditional musical instruments from folk instrument makers. This stage concluded with musical concerts in Hermel, Beirut, Basra, Baghdad, Irbid, and Amman, featuring several trainees as well as folk artists and performers like Mohammad Matar, Anwar Abu Dragh, and Laith Sidiq, attended by an audience of over fifteen hundred people. The last stage of this project is this website!
Here, you will find a dozen of videos and recordings of folk music from the eleven communities that we covered. Also, you can read the full study of the research, analysed and written based on the field research. On the website, you will also be able to explore some of the folk instruments’ sounds, through an interactive section. We have done our journey discovering this beautiful music, it is time to start yours! Enjoy.
Who are Action for Hope
Action for Hope was founded in 2015 to provide cultural development and cultural relief programs that meet the social, cultural, and psychological needs of distressed and displaced communities. We believe in the role of arts and culture in empowering individuals and communities, particularly those in distress. We provide people with access to culture and tools for creative expression to enrich their lives, increase the cultural capital of communities around them, and enable their contribution to our shared humanity. Action for Hope has a vision of a just and tolerant world, where communities risking social fragmentation because of war, displacement, and extreme poverty use creativity to face and surmount their difficult circumstances.
Communities
Contributors
Partners
Researchers
IRAQ
Ahmad Fakhreddine
Al-Tawfiqa village, Nimrud
Nasr Hajji Khadr
Ba’ashiqaa and Bahzani villages
Safaa Al-Dhahi
Jaykur village
Abu El-Khasib
Al-Basra
JORDAN
Rahaf Al-Quraa
al-Taybah village
Ahmad Al-Selawy
The Roma camp, Jaber borders
LEBANON
Khuzama Jawhari
city of Hermel
Georges Cheikh
The Roma Camp – Akkar
Sakr Al-Ali
Bar Elias Refugees Camps
SYRIA
Zeina Shahla
Hamah countryside region
Ibrahim Al-Matroud
Al-Mishlab neighborhood, Ar-Raqqah
Rêzan Mişo
Kochar villages, Qamishli
Trainers
IRAQ
Fawaz Baker
Artistic supervisor
Anwar Abu Dragh
Guest Artist
Nazem Abboud
Khashaba – Vocal & Kassour
Qusai Basri
Khashaba – Vocal & Kassour
Ahmad Radwan
Rural – Metbeg
Husseil Al Mulla
Rural – Vocal and Rababah
Kahtan Mirza
Yazidi – Vocal & Tanbourah
JORDAN
Fawaz Baker
Artistic supervisor
Layth Sidiq
Guest Artist
Ghassan Hammoud
Training Assistance
Rula Al-Barghouthi
Training Assistance
Mohammad Taha Elayyan
Mihbash
Sameh Subhi Abdo Mousa
Rababah
Awad Al Bakr
Yarghoul
Qusai Al Sroor
Shobabeh
LEBANON
Farah Kadddour
Artistic supervisor
Khaled Allaf
Trainer and facilitator
Adham Al-Tuaimi
Rababa and vocals
Hadi Sleman
Rababa and vocals
Ahmad Turkmani
Mezmar
Abed Turkmani
Drum (Tabl)
Videographers
Documentary Videos
IRAQ
Ahmad Al-Salem
Al-Tawfiqa village,
Nimrud, and Baashiqa and Bahzani
Haydar Issa
Jaykur village, Abu El-Khasib, Al-Basra.
JORDAN
Imad Zidan
Al-Taybah village and Roma
camp in Jaber borders.
LEBANON
Zahra Dahous
Hermel city, Roma camp in Akkar,
Syrian refugees’ camps in Bar Elias.
SYRIA
Hassan Bilal
Hamah countryside region,
Music videos
IRAQ
Ahmad Al-Salem
JORDAN & LEBANON
Makram Al Halabi