Sawt Al Hafez (Sound of Al Hafez) was a prominent and prolific family-run cassette company active in the 1990s and 2000s. Founded by the late Abu Abdo Al Hafez, it was based in the Bab Al Hadid neighborhood of Aleppo. Their releases focused particularly on artists from northeastern Syria and Aleppo, as well as reissues of works by Iraqi artists. The company also produced several Assyrian cassettes during its time. The distinctive oval logo of Sawt Al Hafez adorns the covers of dozens of cassettes in our collection. In this spotlight, we explore the legacy of this essential, though now obscure, recording company through five of its cassettes. Radwan Sarmini – Afrah Halab (Aleppo Weddings) This cassette features a wedding celebration in Aleppo from the 1980s, performed by the Aleppine singer Radwan Sarmini. On the first side, Sarmini delivers his most famous song, Skabtelak Dame’i Bel Kas (I Shed My Tears For You), which he recorded in 1986 and performed on Aleppo Radio. This song established him as a sought-after artist at weddings, parties, and restaurants between Aleppo and Damascus in years that followed. His passionate and skillful performance of the song evokes the style of a young Sabah Fakhri. Radwan Sarmini’s career ended tragically in 1990 when he was killed by a bullet to the head in his home in the Zebdiyeh neighborhood of Aleppo. His killer was never identified. Radwan was still in his youth at the age of 37, and his early death left an impact on the music scene in Aleppo. It especially affected his older brother, singer Mustafa Sarmini, who mourned him with dedicated mawals such as Min Yom Faqad Al-Wilf (Since the Day I Lost My Love) and Rah Al Nadim Ya Aini (My Companion Departed, Oh My Eye). Sajida Obeid – Bahrain Concert - 2003 Sawt Al Hafez distributed this 2003 concert in Bahrain featuring the renowned Iraqi shaabi singer Sajida Obeid from Baghdad. Sajida, who belongs to Iraq's Kawliya (Roma or "Gypsy") minority, began singing at the age of twelve, which explains her remarkable mastery, combined with a sweet and enjoyable timbre. Sajida sings Iraqi choubi, shaabi, rural, and Kawliya styles, and her distinctive singing style blends elements from each of these genres. On this cassette, Sajida performs a variety of songs in different styles, with her voice echoing throughout the hall, and largely dominating the electronic arrangement that timidly appears in the background. Saleh Abdel Hai – Leh Ya Banafsaj (Why, Oh Violet?) It appears that Sawt Al Hafez re-distributed this cassette by Egyptian singer Saleh Abdel Hai, which was likely recorded in Cairo in the mid-20th century. The first side includes one of Abdel Hai’s most famous and beautiful songs, Leh Ya Banafsaj, written for him by Bayram Al Tunisi and composed by Riyad Al Sunbati. It's a clean recording for its time, doing justice to the skilled oriental big band, and the rich details of Abdel Hai’s voice, occasionally replaced by a male chorus that leaves us waiting in anticipation for his return. Saleh Abdel Hai represents a link between two generations of classical Arabic song: the generation of Abduh Al Hamouli, Abdel Hai Helmi, and Salama Hegazy, under whom he studied, and the generation of Oum Kalthoum, Abdel Wahab, and Riyad Al Sunbati, the latter of whom composed several of Abdel Hai’s most beautiful songs. Juliana Jendo – Wardeh Deesheh (Crushed Flowers) In this rare appearance of soundtrack music in our archive, we listen to the music recorded for the film Wardeh Deesheh, produced in Australia in 1991, which revolves around a love triangle between Assyrian characters, with Juliana Jendo playing two of them (a dual role). Juliana Jendo was born in the town of Tal Tamer in rural Hassake, to Iraqi Assyrian parents. She began singing in the choir of the nuns' school she attended as a child, and grew up to become one of the most prominent Assyrian singers in Syria and the region, and is held in the highest regard by the global diasporic Assyrian community. In addition to her Assyrian repertoire, she sings in Arabic (both Syrian and Iraqi dialects), as well as in English and French. Mustafa Sarmini – Arabic Mawals ’96 Mustafa Sarmini began his career as part of the Al Orouba Youth Club Quartet in Aleppo, alongside his younger brother Radwan Sarmini and musicians Nihad Najjar and Abboud Bashir. After the quartet disbanded, each member pursued individual careers, achieving significant success. Mustafa became known specifically for singing mawals and his contributions to the musical heritage of Aleppo, where he continued to live and perform until his death in 2019. On this cassette from 1996, we hear a collection of mawals and traditional songs, in which the Aleppine singing style blends with that of Egyptian singers from the Arab Renaissance era, giving the cassette a timeless quality and showing the influence of Egyptian tarab on its Aleppine counterpart.