Asala releases 'The Syrian Album', 14 songs from Syria's governorates

Syrian singer Asala Nasri released The Syrian Album, a collection of 14 songs that gathers the country's musical heritage. The record is built around Syria's 14 governorates (provinces), with each song linked to the folk traditions of one region. Aleppo, for example, is represented by the song "Aal Rozana".

Asala kept the traditional melodies recognisable and made only limited changes to the arrangements, so that younger listeners could connect with them. She described the project as a careful, detail-focused effort and suggested it might be her first and last album of this kind. It was issued through the label Rotana.

The album mattered because Asala is one of the best-known voices in Arab music and had been a prominent critic of Bashar al-Assad's government, living outside Syria for around 15 years. The release presented Syrian regional culture as a shared national heritage, and it was followed shortly afterwards by her first concert in Damascus since leaving the country.