Martin Stokes (Department of Music) and Farid Ghrich in collaboration with Counterpoints and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France

The MENA Music Podcast, led by Farid Ghrich in collaboration with Martin Stokes, brings recordings from the 1932 Cairo Congress of Arab Music into contemporary circulation through a series of short, French-language podcasts.

Developed as part of the Beyond 1932 research programme, the project responds to the limited public accessibility of these historically significant recordings held by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. By combining archival sound with interviews, commentary and translation, the podcast creates an accessible platform for engaging with the cultural and intellectual legacy of the Congress.

Produced through interviews with scholars, archivists and artists in Paris, the series connects historical material with present-day musical practices. The podcasts have been distributed across major digital platforms, reaching audiences across Europe, North and West Africa, and beyond.

As a pilot project, it establishes a replicable model for multilingual podcasting, with future plans to expand into English, Arabic and Turkish. More broadly, the project demonstrates how podcasting can function as a method of knowledge exchange, reconnecting archival research with contemporary cultural practice and widening access to MENA musical heritage.