The Unheard Frequencies: Syrian Women Reshaping Sound

Far from the public eye, Syria’s female musicians exist in a world of paradoxes: grace forged in the crucible of over a decade of devastation and enduring resilience as ancient as the ruins they walk among. Here, the timeless roots of Arabic poetry and Muwashahat find new meaning. For some, their art remains hidden, murmured in basements or recorded in secrecy. For others, it echoes beyond borders, defying expectations of what a Syrian artist—and especially a woman—ought to be. Syrian-Dutch electronic music producer Yara Said, also known as “Noise Diva,”  tells Dazed MENA that this is not just art born out of struggle, but art that confronts the Syrian plight head-on, channelling state-sanctioned repression into sound, and obscurity into lyrical resonance and defiance for the over six million Syrian refugees around the world.

After decades of control, the ruling Ba’ath party and former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were ousted on December 8, as opposition factions stormed Syria’s capital Damascus. While many in Syria and worldwide celebrated its liberation, Diva says the voices of Syria’s female artists still linger in the margins—a bittersweet reminder that liberation doesn’t always equal recognition A year ago, while Syria still bore the weight of Assad’s rule, Diva set out on a journey to unearth the hidden voices of Syrian female artists—those steadfast within the country and those scattered across the diaspora. As a composer, DJ, and producer, Diva carried with her an intimate understanding of the barriers these women face, their art having emerged from the shadows of unimaginable constraints.

In the years leading up to the 2011 revolution, women in Syria were cautiously beginning to etch their presence into the country’s music scene. Creativity wove its way through a minefield of censorship, and for a brief moment, the air felt charged with possibility. Though when the Assad regime’s merciless crackdown began, a strong wave of violence surfaced that shattered dreams, silenced voices, and turned the very act of creating art into an act of defiance too dangerous to bear. “Even now, I tremble at the privilege of writing these words freely,” Diva explains.  

Exile claimed many, as musicians and artists alike fled their homeland, while arbitrary detention swallowed others. For those who did survive, the rupture didn’t just end their creative journeys—it rebirthed them. Still rooted in Syrian soil, art became all but stretched thin by the pain of distance and the need to carry a fragmented identity forward.

“This loss fueled my obsession with online archiving over the past seven years,” Diva says, tracing her path through the epicenter of Syria’s visionary soundscapes, “I turned to Bandcamp, SoundCloud, and YouTube, digging through endless tracks, searching for echoes of a scene that war had scattered.”

What she uncovered was nothing short of revolutionary: a clandestine web of fearless female producers and sound artists creating music that felt visceral, uncompromising, and fiercely political. The spectrum of harmony Diva had unearthed was electrifying: raw hip-hop verses, disruptive experimental soundscapes, glitch-ridden electronic beats, and the unbridled chaos of free jazz. What tethered the artists’ work together was an untamed audacity and urgent impulse to splinter sonic barriers, uproot traditions, and reclaim their sundered identities with a boldness that could only bleed from the unhealed wounds of exile.

“They’re not just making music; they’re crafting entire sonic worlds where culture, resistance, and self-expression collide in the most unapologetic way,” Diva adds, “These artists are not waiting for permission. They are already rewriting the narrative, one beat, one sound, one revolution at a time.”

In that spirit, and in collaboration with Noise Diva, we present a selection of six female Syrian musicians who, through their music are not only finding ways to preserve and revive their heritage but alchemize their struggle into a tangible, human-forged sensation that cuts through the noise.

Lynn Adib’s voice, revered by many Syrians as angelic, is more than sound—it’s a vessel for underground experimentation. While celebrated for her work with Bedouin Burger alongside Zeid Hamdan, her artistry runs far deeper. A bold experimentalist, Adib collaborates with international musicians to expand the boundaries of vocal expression, weaving intricate, avant-garde textures that leave listeners spellbound while redefining vocal conventions in equal measure. 

Faten Kanaan is a true sonic architect, crafting soundscapes that feel suspended between time and worlds—ethereal and untethered, as though belonging to an uncharted realm. Drawing inspiration from the hypnotic depths of Greek composer Eleni Karaindrou, Kanaan’s tracks carry waves of nostalgia crashing with the force of an ocean, stirring emotions that feel at once unmoored and profoundly familiar for Syrians around the world. Beneath every note lies an unspoken love for home, subtle but achingly present. Her mastery of synthesizers and live keyboards hum with a warmth that infuses her music with an uncanny timelessness. Often described as ‘strange,’ Kanaan’s music derives its power through its ability to conjure a world that is uniquely, unequivocally her own. 

Diana Azzuz’s music straddles the pulse of club culture and the meditative allure of ambient soundscapes and experimentalism, fusing classical drum motifs with haunting, cinematic compositions. Azzuz crafts acoustic atmospheres that feel both grounded and transcendent through her use of classical percussion. Her music has positioned itself as a refuge for the club exiles – those who see the dance floor as a canvas for self-discovery and modern existence. By deconstructing and reassembling sound, she turns the familiar into something daringly original and equally parts resonant.

In a hip-hop world often monopolized by men, Syrian multidisciplinary artist Thawra stands out as a fearless disruptor. Currently based in Cairo, Thawra channels rage, healing, and defiance into her music—a raw fusion of rap and alternative sounds. Since beginning her journey during the pandemic in 2020, she’s used her art to provoke, question, and seek catharsis. Her recent singles, Wala 7ada and Matryoshka, mark a daring evolution in a career rooted in rebellion and self-expression. Last November, her electrifying performance at Shababco in Cairo proved she’s not just part of the scene—she’s shaping it. Thawra thrives on collaboration, crafting sounds that resist lyrical doctrines and cements her place not as a follower in the industry, but a trailblazer carving her own path forward.

Samah Abdulhamid’s Arablab is a genre-defying masterpiece that fuses the raw spontaneity of improvised jazz with the soul-stirring echoes of Mexican influences, all anchored in hypnotic spoken word and evocative vocals. Singing in Arabic, she delves deep into the complexities of love, existence, and self-discovery, with her voice serving as a powerful instrument of vulnerability and strength. Layered with the intensity of violin, electric guitar, and pulsating drums, Abdulhamid’s music becomes a tactile experience, with each track unraveling a new chapter of emotion, culture, and artistry. Founded in 2019 in Mexico, Arablab was born from Abdulhamid’s desire to blend the Middle Eastern sounds of her upbringing with the diverse musical forms of her new home—Mexican experimental hip-hop, funk, psychedelic rock, and alt-rock. Arablab isn’t just music to all those who know the weight of exile—it communicates, lives, and defies categorisation. 

In the aftermath of the Oct. 7 genocide, when silence seemed to suffocate many in the music industry, Noise Diva found herself gripped by an overwhelming paralysis—an inability to find words for the unspeakable. She instead found her voice through the only medium she knew best—music. Through Darna, her powerful EP, she turned that pain into preservation and expression, creating a sonic archive for those whose lives had been ravaged beyond recognition. “Dar (home),” features the voices of Palestinian children declaring “Hai darna hon” (This is our home here), and serves as Diva’s bold declaration that no matter how much is taken, from Syria to Palestine, home and heritage will remain—carved into generational memory and forever alive in song.