19:00 Screening of ‘Sawt Syria’

20:00 Discussion with Co-Directors Juline Hadaya and Yamen Mekdad, moderated by journalist Karolis Vyšniauskas

21:00 Beirut Groove Collective DJ set

‘Sawt Syria’ (dir. Yamen Mekdad, Juline Hadaya, 2024, 58 min)

Sadaa Sound Syndicate presents ‘Sawt Syria’, a two-part essay film that delves into the inner worlds of the alternative music scene in Syria and its exilic diaspora in Europe. Through intimate conversational encounters with 14 artists and archival footage from underground raves to daily city life – this film explores electronic music-making and the dance floor as a connector and forger of a singular Syrian experience, as well as a marker for musicians and audiences to mount a politics of difference: from the Syrian state, from previous generations, and, increasingly, from fellow Syrians living markedly different lives in various regions of the Levant, in camps across the Middle East, and in exile across Europe.

Artist featured: Bu Kolthoum, Hello Psychaleppo, Noise Diva, LazerGazer, C1 Collective, Rizan Said, Tamman, Ebn Howari, Jundi Majhul, Abu Muhammed, Boshoco, Stash, Yara M, MH-D, Saadé and Walshi. 

Directors’ bios

Yamen Mekdad is a Syrian  artist, film maker and community organizer based in London. His practice is an experimentation in radical collaboration with a focus on the relationship between sound and geography as well as the political possibility of sound. His interests in field recording, archiving, radio and grassroots organizing led him to co-found the collectives: Sawt of the Earth, Makkam, and Sadaa Sound Syndicate. He is a frequent contributor to a number of radio stations, including Root, Balami, NTS and AlHara. Yamen is also curator and producer of Syrian Cassette Archives and the Syrian Arts and Culture Festival (SACF). 

Juline Hadaya is a London-based multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker. Using sound, moving-image, text and sculpture, her practice explores themes of representation, lineal memory, post-trauma psychology as well as psychosocial shifts within our internet age. Juline has also performed sonic works and dj sets at Cafe Oto and Ormside Projects in London. 

Sadaa Sound Syndicate is a cross-border group of self-organized Syrians who are attuned to the agential possibilities of sound. Founded in 2021, it groups together sound enthusiasts, researchers, DJs and producers. Manifesto.