Singing Coasts | سواحل تُغنّى
113 Songs · 3 Coastal Cities · One Shared Musical Memory
The sea’s stories live in songs, mawwawil, and people’s voices. BEHAR has completed Singing Coasts, documenting 113 folk songs from El Quseir, Marsa Alam, and Ras Ghareb, preserving coastal musical memory for future generations.
Across Red Sea towns, songs, chants, and mawwawil carry traces of maritime life, trade routes, and social celebrations. Some of these voices risk fading as ways of life change and cultural bearers grow older.
“Every song carries a story—and every voice connects past and present.”
Singing Coasts is a research and cultural initiative implemented by BEHAR to document endangered musical heritage in collaboration with local communities, especially fishers, elders, women, and musicians.
The fieldwork resulted in the collection and documentation of 113 songs from El Quseir, Marsa Alam, and Ras Ghareb, preserving cultural memory for communities to share with future generations.
Listen & Document
The research team conducted fieldwork and collected songs, oral histories, and recordings from local communities across the coast.
Preserve the Memory
A total of 113 songs were collected and documented across El Quseir, Marsa Alam, and Ras Ghareb to preserve living heritage.
Create Across Generations
The project created space for youth and artists to engage with traditional songs and exchange knowledge across generations.
Share the Heritage
The project’s outcomes are shared through documentation outputs and a closing celebration of the coast’s musical life.