What can the humble cassette tape tell us about Somali culture?
\u201cDivorces were happening on these cassette tapes\u2026 And the messenger wouldn't know that there had been a divorce recorded on this cassette tape, so when they got to the partner and offered them the cassette tape and it was played they were the unwilling participant in this divorce.\u201d\n \nNowadays we\u2019re so linked up - via whatsapp, email, phone calls. But how did people stay connected in the days before the mobile phone?\n \nIn Somalia \u2013 from the 1970s to 90s \u2013the cassette tape was a crucial tool for sending messages \u2013 especially to family members who had fled to other countries after war broke out. \n \nLetter tapes were used for verbal love letters, regular family updates, to plan political resistance \u2013 and even as a means of divorce.\n \nNow a Somali feminist art group called Dhaqan Collective (@DhaqanC) - based in Bristol in South West England - is using these tapes as a way to explore Somali history and culture in a project called Camel Meat & Cassette Tapes.\n \nThey\u2019ve also used cassettes as a vehicle to encourage young Somalis to record interviews with their older family members \u2013 and so to connect with their history and traditions. \n \nFor Africa Daily, Mpho Lakaje speaks with two members of the collective.
With thanks to producer @layla_mood