About this Event
Sounds of Resistance: Analogue Armenia / Syrian Cassette
Plus DJ set with SAISOUNDS
13 May 6.30 – 8.30 pm
Tickets £6, concessions available ([email protected])
In this second session of The Showroom’s Sounds of Resistance listening series we bring together archival initiatives dedicated to Armenian and Syrian cassette cultures, alongside contemporary Somali diasporic sound practice to reflect on how sonic practices can safeguard heritage, reactivate overlooked histories, and create new spaces for cultural expression. The event will start with a listening session with Olivia Melkonian (Analog Armenia) and Mark Gergis (Syrian Cassette Archives), followed by a DJ set with SAISOUNDS.
Sounds of Resistance is a series of listening sessions curated by Attia Shiraz in which music archivists and DJs take part in communal listening sessions to share cultural memories through sound and visual projections of their chosen music and contexts of music resistance.
The rise of archiving and electronic music production is reshaping cultural and protest movements from the SWANA (South West Asia and North Africa) region as it faces cultural ruptures through political destruction. Music practices serve as powerful interventions for preserving cultural memory, communicating resistance, celebrating heritage, empowering community voices, healing, and reimaging futures.
Sounds of Resistance is programmed in response to our current exhibition inspired by punk – Slits Are Girls by Ângela Ferreira and Mandy El-Sayegh’s mural commission – This is a Sign: Notes on Assembly, which is centred on modes of social justice and resistance.
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Analog Armenia is an archival cassette project dedicated to the preservation and celebration of Armenian cassette culture, founded by Olivia Melkonian, audio producer, sound artist/archivist and DJ. She uses audio and sonic archiving to reimagine and reconstruct what has been lost, forgotten, or misremembered, addressing archival absences while questioning memory and knowledge formation. As an open-access digital archive, Analog Armenia safeguards intangible sonic heritage, including endangered dialects, folk songs, revolutionary radio broadcasts and religious masses. Sourced from Lebanon, Armenia, and community contributions, Melkonian also traces the social, cultural, and historical narratives embedded within these recordings, exploring how sound-based memory informs collective knowledge and sustains cultural continuity.
Syrian Cassette Archives is an independent research and archival initiative dedicated to preserving, sharing, and presenting sounds and stories from Syria's cassette era (1970s-2010), featuring recordings from Syrian Arab, Assyrian, Kurdish, and Armenian communities across folk, shaabi, wedding, and devotional traditions, much of which circulated outside state media, official institutions, and formal distribution networks. Founded in 2018 and directed by Mark Gergis and Yamen Mekdad, the collection is freely accessible online in Arabic and English. Mark Gergis is a London-based Iraqi-American producer, archivist, and researcher whose work centres on music made at the margins of official culture, across borders and diasporas. He has also compiled and produced releases on Sublime Frequencies documenting music from Syria, Iraq, Vietnam, and Cambodia, among others, and makes music under his own name and the project Porest.
SAISOUNDS is a UK-raised DJ and cultural tastemaker pioneering the emerging sound of Somali House. Starting her musical journey at just 14, she developed an early ear for rhythm, shaped by both her environment and her heritage. After years spent building within her community, SAISOUNDS has returned to music with a renewed purpose: to push Afro-electronic sound forward and carve out space for a new genre. Through her work, she is actively shaping Somali House –fusing traditional Somali influences with contemporary house to create something both rooted and future-facing. More than just a DJ, SAISOUNDS is building a movement – one that celebrates diaspora identity, connects cultures, and redefines the sound of the dancefloor.
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This event is supported by Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Westminster City Council Libraries & Archives.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Showroom Gallery, 63 Penfold Street, London, United Kingdom
GBP 6.00
