How a ScotsmanHow a ScotsmanGot into Collecting Syrian Vinyl, Cassettes and Posters.

Introduced to Syrian music at a Brazilian jazz concert, James Learmonth's fascination grew for artists like Ziad Rahbani and Omar Soulyman. His exploration of Syria's cultural richness extended to collecting vintage movie posters and delving into literature. Eager to visit Syria, James aspires to reignite cultural exchanges between Scotland and Syria.

“I was at a Brazilian jazz concert and got speaking to this guy, and he recommended I check out these artists: Ziad Rahbani, Salah Ragab, Baligh Hamdi, Walid Gholmiyeh, Munir Bashir, and Ahmed Malek. When I got home and played them, I was hooked and even traveled to some of the countries these artists are from, looking for more of their cassettes and records. By the time I was hooked on music from these regions, the war in Syria had just erupted and the only Syrian artist I knew was Omar Soulyman, who I went to see in a concert on a very snowy night in Glasgow.

After that concert, I went into a deep dive into Syrian music. I read old blogs, read the credits on the back of Syrian albums to try and discover new artists, googled Syrian music, and watched old concerts on youtube. I fell for various Syrian musicians, singers, bands, and instrumentalists: Duraid Lahham, Muhammad Qadri Dalal, Alexander Maloof, Naim Karakand, The Magic Fingers (the first Syrian rock band from the 70s), Aleppo Jazz Quartet, Suhail Arafeh, Nagham Debal, Rihab Azar, Basel Rajoub, Mohannad Nasser, Malek Jandali and Maya Youssef. I was fortunate enough to even see some of them in concerts.

This love I developed for Syrian culture led me to collect Syrian photography books, and reading incredible biographies like that of Yusra Mardini, old literature by Adunis, Ulfat Idilbi, and Maryana Marrash. I am currently very much into collecting old Syrian movie posters that I picked up in Beirut, Paris, and online. I love the artwork!; I think I have over 30 now. I truly hope to visit Syria in the future. One of my biggest hopes is for Scotland and Syria to restart their cultural exchange, which particularly began in the mid 2000s when musicians from both counties would come over and play music, screen their local films, and have live dance performances.”