Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

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issue 319

Listening to the Jazira—Songs as Counter Archives in Northeast Syria
Syrian Kurdish men, women and children dance the dabke in a meadow to celebrate the spring holiday of Nowruz near the town of Qahtaniyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province, March 2020. Delil Souleiman/AFP via Getty Images
Syria

Listening to the Jazira—Songs as Counter Archives in Northeast Syria

Local shaabi music legend Khader al Nasser calls himself the “master” as he professes to teach a group of young women about love while plucking chickens in an old music video circulating on YouTube. Eventually a group of women elders kick him out for his mischievousness. It is ridiculous, endearing
Heidi S. Affi • 11 min read
Soundtrack of Dissent—The Music of Protest in Iran
Iranians in Athens sing the protest song "Baraye" by Shervin Hajipour during a demonstration to commemorate 40 days from the death in custody in Iran of Mahsa Amini, October 2022. Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP via Getty Images.
Iran

Soundtrack of Dissent—The Music of Protest in Iran

In February 2026, one month after mass protests in Iran led to a government crackdown killing thousands, Shervin Hajipour released a new song from inside the country. Hajipour had become internationally known during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests of 2022, when his song “Baraye” went viral before he was arrested
Nafiseh Sharifi • 14 min read
Exhibiting the Gulf—Kuwait’s Overlooked Role in Regional Art
Printed matter from the Second Arab Artist Biennial, Kuwait, 1971. Courtesy of the Khalifa & Lidia Qattan Art Museum.
Kuwait

Exhibiting the Gulf—Kuwait’s Overlooked Role in Regional Art

In February 2026, the international Art Basel festival was held for the first time in Qatar and is scheduled to return in January 2027. In November 2026, London’s Frieze art fair is due to launch Frieze Abu Dhabi. The festivals mark a growing trend—mirrored in construction of the
Abdullah Al-Mutairi • 14 min read
Alternative Amman—Making Counterculture in the Jordanian Capital
Jordanian band Ayloul plays at Odeon Theatre in downtown Amman, Jordan, May 2018, at a concert hosted by the European Union National Institutes for Culture. Photo by Arthur Tainturier.
Jordan

Alternative Amman—Making Counterculture in the Jordanian Capital

On a balmy April night in Amman’s Jabal Al-Weibdeh, a DJ was perched on the roof of Zawyeh Space, leaning over a battered mixer as a small crowd of mostly twenty-somethings chatted under the sky. A short walk away at The Village in Jabal Amman, the city’
Arran Walshe • 12 min read
A Note on the Cover Image
48 Cacti, 2024. Manal Mahamid. Silkscreen print, 120 x 120 cm. Featured in the exhibit "Women at Work: Intersection of Fine Art and Craft," at Dalloul Art Foundation, reviewed in this issue.
issue 319

A Note on the Cover Image

Manal Mahamid’s silkscreen print, 48 Cacti, 2024, boldly introduces the themes of our summer 2026 issue, “Art at Work—People, Power and Cultural Production.” The fruit of the sabr cactus, or prickly pear, is repeated 48 times in a colorful grid. Each element is meaningful: the number 48, this
(Author not identified) • 1 min read