Rural Middle East Music and Tech

Hassan Hassan, New Lines Magazine, How Rural Music in the Middle East Bypassed Cultural Gatekeepers Using Tech and Weddings, 4 Oct 2023. “The music’s detractors, like Syrian actors who themselves hailed from rural provinces but were, in the popular imagination, entrusted with maintaining an urban, middle-class tonality, occasionally voiced their disapproval of the genre in class terms. But despite all the criticism, the trend continued to gain momentum, particularly with the advent of social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok, its lively tunes and tongue-in-cheek, humorous lyrics perfectly tailored for the internet.”