The Aleppo Project
The Washington Post’s Loveday Morris reported on the ‘stunning devastation’ inside Aleppo’s souqs.
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All posts from 2016
A Mother Mourns the Last Exodus
by Rami Aboud on March 29, 2016“I am the mourning mother, and who comforts her,” a deep rhyme echoes in the sky of Aleppo every year.
It is the heavenly voice of the Levantine singer Fairuz that awakens Christian neighborhoods of the city. Mothers are awake earlier than usual; they open the doors to their balconies and the contest begins on whose Fairuz is loudest. It is Good Friday, one of the most important days in the Aleppian Christian calendar. Shop keepers and hair dressers are packed; working in harmony with the rhymes that mix with the fragrance of the Bakhur incense. In the afternoon, tens of thousands of Christians join a pilgrimage to the nearly forty churches of Aleppo. The old town, however, gets the largest number of pilgrims. Farhat Square in al-Jdaydeh quarter puts on its special attire. The sounds of people, peddlers and boy scout brass bands are a symphony embedded in the memory of Aleppians. The four churches that overlook the square remind Christians of their ancient roots in the city. The medieval limestone holds the memory of surviving the Mongol slaughter when Timur Lank invaded Aleppo six hundred years ago.
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Aleppo Weekly- March 21-28
by The Aleppo Project on March 28, 2016THE CONFLICT
Violence levels in Aleppo dropped dramatically, but sporadic gunfire continues. According to Halab News Network, a Citadel-based regime sniper fired “exploding bullets” on Old City districts.
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Aleppo’s Good Listeners – The Sammīʿah
by Clara Wenz on March 23, 2016Lovers of Arab music know Aleppo by the name Em el-Tarab – the “mother of tarab.” Tarab roughly translates as “ecstasy” and refers to a state of spiritual up-lifting and enchantment that is induced by this type of music. Although today the term is often loosely applied to any type of traditional Arab music, Tarab actually refers to a particular musical culture that was popular from the 19th until the first half of the 20th century.
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WHO ARE YOU CALLING STUPID?
by Dr. Eng. Ahmad Adib Shaar on March 22, 2016Arabs are considered a high context culture, meaning that due to a long history of intense contact in their communities, they can use short cuts, allusions and proverbs easily in their conversation and expect to be understood. Much can go unexplained in discussions as people are deeply familiar with each other and their common culture. Languages that exist in these cultures can have a richness of allusions that others may lack. For example, in Aleppo, if you want to point out that someone is stupid, you have a range of options, not all of them particularly politically correct:
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Aleppo Weekly- March 17-21
by The Aleppo Project on March 21, 2016read moreA tale of two cities in Aleppo: Rubble on one side, packed restaurants on the other. Five years of conflict have torn Syria apart. And nowhere is that more stark than in its most populous city, Aleppo, where front lines carve through neighborhoods and slice it in two. Loveday Morris, The Washington Post
The Syrian conflict: Aleppo’s volunteers
by The Aleppo Project on March 17, 2016
Syria’s frontlines have become the world’s most dangerous areas, forcing millions to leave their homes. But some people in the city of Aleppo refuse to go. They’ve taken up voluntary relief work, to help the casualties of war.
AlJazeera, March 16, 2016
Aleppo Weekly- March 7-16
by The Aleppo Project on March 17, 2016LIFE IN THE CITY
Photo: Aleppo General Management of Services
With electricity returning to many main electrical plants, residents reported that up to 140 district-level electricity posts were looted by pro-government militias in government-controlled western Aleppo. Pro-government Zahraa News Network called on residents in western Aleppo not to pay newly announced electricity connection fees because the provincial director of electricity said his directorate would pay these costs.
Municipal water returned to several districts in western Aleppo, including Seif ad-Dauleh and New Aleppo. Water, which had been cut off for several months has still not reached Izaa, Sirian and Ashrafiyeh.
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“I know firsthand what it’s like to lose a home…”
by The Aleppo Project on March 11, 2016CARE initiative connects Refugees from WWII and the Syrian War through pen-friendship
“I know firsthand what it’s like to lose a home and become a refugee.” Carefully penned in tight script on a piece of ivory stationary, this was the opening of 87-year-old Helga Kissell’s handwritten letter. It was addressed to Sajeda, a 16-year-old Syrian refugee in Jordan who Kissell has never met.
Aleppo Street Symphony, 1935
by Rebecca Decherd on March 10, 2016In Aleppo one is not awakened early in the morning by the cheerful chirp of a robin or a wren, nor by the clear call of a cardinal, but rather by a penetrating voice crying in Arabic under the window, “Hellu Haleeb”. This syncopated wail persevering on the interval of a minor third defies all sleep. Eventually it lures one to come outside and buy “nice sweet milk” direct from cow to consumer, for the gentle jersey waits at the door bedecked in her blue glass beads.
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