Music from Aleppo during the Syrian War: Displacement and Memory in Hello Psychaleppo's Electro-Tarab (Elements in Music and the City)

By: Clara Wenz

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Synopsis: Aleppo is regarded as one of the historical centres of an urban Arab art music tradition known as 'tarab'. During the war that followed Syria's 2011 political uprisings, vast parts of the city were destroyed. This Element explores how 'tarab' lives on in new contexts. It does so through a focus on the work of Hello Psychaleppo, one of Aleppo's displaced musicians and the pioneer of 'electro-tarab', an eclectic style of urban electronic dance music that is conceived as a homage to Aleppo's musical legacy. Whether local religious chants, Palestinian poetry, or the image of a yellow man, electro-tarab includes an inventory of audio, visual and literary samples. These samples help conceptualise the role music has played during the Syrian war; they offer insights into Aleppo's musical and diasporic afterlife; and they illuminate some of the socio-aesthetic parameters that characterise contemporary Arab electronic music.