Bedouins, South Sinai

Cities and Memory - remixing the world

This recording captures my connection with a Bedouin tribe in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, where an unconditional love for the land is ever-present. Bedouins persist in leading a traditional, subsistence lifestyle, moving from place to place and engaging in trade between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. Isolated from the rest of Egypt, their settlements are nestled among high mountains, including Mount Sinai and Oum Shomar, providing Bedouins with a profound sense of solace in solitude. Today, the land they call home is revered as one of the most spiritual places in Egypt.
Despite enduring discrimination, stigma, and stereotyping over the years, many modern Bedouins have adapted to a semi-nomadic or settled lifestyle. During the Israeli occupation between 1967 and 1982, Bedouins insisted on remaining on their land, earning them the label of traitors from the larger Egyptian public.
Recorded by Rafael Diogo.
Part of the Migration Sounds project, the world’s first collection of the sounds of human migration.
For more information and to explore the project, see https://www.citiesandmemory.com/migration