Individuals, families and communities are invited to contribute cassette tape recordings to an ongoing project that seeks to explore and preserve the history of voice correspondence in the UAE.
For this open call, we are especially interested in cassette tapes that document personal messages, exchanges and stories shared between family members, friends and loved ones—across borders, across generations or in casual gatherings. These tapes serve as cultural artefacts and historical records of migration, identity and the changing dynamics of communication.
By collecting these audio tapes, we aim to build an archive of sound that not only reflects personal narratives but also speaks to larger social and cultural shifts, from the transformation of long-distance communication to changes in attitudes, population size and distribution, and economic activity.
Conceived by Syma Tariq and Deepak Unnikrishnan, the project is led and facilitated by Tariq.
We are seeking personal cassette tapes made between 1970 and 2000 from the UAE, but we are open to contributions from surrounding regions with similar practices of cassette tape communication. We welcome tapes in the following languages: Arabic, Hindi, Urdu, Malayalam, Tamil, Sinhala, Bengali, Nepali, Swahili, Tagalog, Farsi and English.
The tapes should contain voice messages, songs or recordings from family and friends, including but not limited to the following:
When tapes are submitted, they will be digitised and archived along with a transcript of the content on each tape.
To contribute, please submit the form below no later than Thursday, 8 May, 2025.