Established in Aleppo during the 1980s, King Recordings became one of the most prolific and prominent fixtures in the Syrian cassette landscape for decades. The label was known for releasing and distributing a wide range of music, notably showcasing works from Syria’s diverse Assyrian, Armenian, Kurdish, and Iraqi communities. Their catalogue included everything from A-list regional artists to local wedding bands and early efforts from aspiring singers of the time. King Recordings also produced numerous compilation tapes featuring music from both the region and the western world. The label’s flashy, regal logo appears on many cassettes in our archive. Headquartered in Aleppo, the company maintained regional outlets in Damascus, Tartus, and Lattakia, along with distributors across the Jazeera region, including Deir Ez Zor, Raqqa, Hassake, and Qamishli. Today, their social media channels suggest a move to Al Areed Street in Tartus, where their store now offers a wide range of services, from video games to computer maintenance. Still, their primary focus remains their extensive archive of Syrian shaabi music. King Recordings maintains a strong online presence through two YouTube channels dedicated to Syrian shaabi music, where hundreds of performances and archival recordings have drawn millions of views. Their main channel has become a hub for fans of the genre, while their well-followed Facebook page continues to share regular updates, recordings, and reflections on Syria’s ever-evolving shaabi scene. In this feature, we explore six cassettes from King Recordings in our archive – most of them compilation tapes featuring works by various artists, brought together through shared themes. =========== Various Artists – Al Furat Festival - Part One This compilation cassette focuses on the Deir Ez Zor governorate, presenting eight songs by eight different artists from the region, performing lively contemporary versions of traditional Deiri songs, over a mix of Syrian and Iraqi rhythms. Released in 1996, the cassette is characterized by its dynamism, part of which comes from the difference in vocal textures among the eight singers, as well as from the structure followed in all the songs, which requires each singer to enter with a slow mawal before smoothly transitioning to dabke or choubi. Anonymous Artist – Isqi Al Itash (Quench the Thirsty) The cover of this cassette suggests it’s a recording of Sabah Fakhri’s iconic Isqi Al Itash concert, but upon listening, it becomes clear that it features another singer performing the same repertoire. The singer’s identity remains unknown, leaving us to wonder about the owner of the soft, melodious voice who so skilfully revived one of Fakhri’s most celebrated performances. The tape includes songs deeply tied to Aleppo’s musical heritage, such as the muwashah Yamurru 'Ujban by the city’s iconic composer Omar Al Batsh, and Isqi Al Itash, whose original melody dates back more than 300 years. All we know is that this concert was well-attended and highly appreciated by the audience, whose roaring applause and cheers we hear loudly between songs. Various Artists – Assyrian Folk Songs This cassette, released in Qamishli in the late 1990s, features ten traditional songs and dabke tracks by nine Assyrian singers from Syria and Iraq – including iconic names in Syriac music such as Walter Aziz and Juliana Jendo. King Recordings devoted much of its attention to Syria’s northeastern Jazeera region, where they had a keen understanding of their audience and demographic. This tape highlights the label’s role in amplifying Assyrian voices during the cassette era. The compilation’s polished, pop-adjacent arrangements make it an approachable introduction to the wide world of Assyrian music for new listeners. Tigers Band – Tigers Band The Jordanian band The Tigers achieved some fame in the Levant during the 1980s and 1990s, enough to land them in the King Recordings cassette archive. On this 1993 release, the band performs a collection of Arabic pop covers from the era, specifically Egyptian songs such as Lawlaki by Ali Hamida, Samra Ya Samra by Kareem Mahmoud, and Al Tawba by Abdel Halim Hafez. The tape leans heavily on dense electronic arrangements and prominent synths, placing the sound midway between pop and Levantine shaabi. Various Artists – Dabket Al Malek Alfuratia - 1 (King's Dabke of the Euphrates - vol.1) This 2002 cassette showcases six shaabi dabke singers from Syria’s Euphrates/Jazeera region: Adnan Al Jabouri, Osama Al Harbi, Monzer Alelo, Omar Souleyman, Salah Haleel, and Mohammed Elforati. Marked by fast, dense rhythms and choral backing, the songs retain a strong traditional character. Each vocalist alternates with a seasoned, rugged tone that reflects the raw spirit of their Bedouin heritage. Various Artists – Dabket Al Malek Al Jazrawye Pt. 3 (King of Jazeera Dabke) This cassette, released in the early 2000s, includes some of the most prominent Syrian artists of Syriac, Assyrian, and Armenian origins, particularly those from the Jazeera region whose artistic careers began in Aleppo. Among them are Tareq Murad, Michel Barshan, Samer Kabro, and the Gomidas band. Though the traditional songs are performed in Arabic, the artists’ diverse ethnic roots remain evident through the vocal styles and musical arrangements. The keyboard-driven compositions approach a pop sound, consistent with the sonic style found across many of King Recordings’ releases.